As India's national airline Air India prepares to induct three of its much-awaited Boeing 787 aircrafts this August, the government along with the airline management are reconsidering their earlier decision of inducting only half of the 450 pilots who had gone on strike this May. This reconsideration came into light following the confusion over how many commanders would be required to pilot Air India's aircraft fleet.

Till early this month, the civil aviation ministry was clear that the airline would need about 450 pilots for its long-haul operations, down from the pre-strike number of 750 as per a report in ET.

A group of ministers headed by home minister P Chidambaram on July 25 was deciding the compensation amount that American aircraft manufacturer Boeing needs to pay to Air India for delaying the B-787s.

"Air India management is itself confused over pilot requirements. Therefore, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh has asked (the management) to prepare a detailed presentation on how many pilots are needed for each aircraft type," a senior ministry official told ET.

The minister has also asked about the number of erstwhile Indian Airlines or narrow-body aircraft type-rated pilots trained to fly the Dreamliners and how many new short-haul pilots will be additionally recruited.

"All these details are expected next week," he said. Until early July, the ministry and Air India had decided that they would curtail the airline's loss-making international operations, which would require them to downsize their pilot workforce.

This was contemplated in the wake of the two-month-long pilots' strike, which caused 70% of Air India's overseas operations to be grounded.

However, as 27 B-787s are slated to join by 2016 and there will be a shortage of commanders, the management will have to rethink on the number of pilots actually required.

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