Pilot shortage hits Alliance Air's operations


Passengers booked on Alliance Air's flight between Delhi and Port Blair has been stranded with the airline cancelling its flights between the destinations since the first week of January. The national carrier attributed this cancellation to unavailability of CRJ pilots with the airline. 

"Alliance Air has two types of aircraft in its fleet - ATRs and CRJs. The airline is in the process of replacing the CRJ fleet by ATRs. The flight to Port Blair was being operated by a CRJ, which cannot be now flown due to shortage of pilots, who have left the airline," said an Air India official. 

The official added that pilots leaving the airline is a case of mismanagement. The airline had about 64 pilots till two months back, but it decided to replace all these fleet by new ATR aircraft. 

"The management then wanted these CRJ pilots to be upgraded to Airbus fleet, which would not have been possible because there's an abundance of Airbus pilots with the airline," the official added. 



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