Indian airlines collectively phased out 84 pilots in 2017: Minister

New Delhi: Indian airlines have collectively phased out 84 foreign pilots during 2017, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

The foreign pilots were phased out by airlines such as Jet Airways, Air India, SpiceJet and IndiGo.

"All the operators or airlines have been directed to develop their in-house strength to minimise the dependency on expatriate pilots," Minister of State of Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply during question hour in the Lok Sabha. 

"Accordingly operators train and upgrade the inducted Indian pilots to reduce the number of expatriate pilots and submit the phase out programme to DGCA on a regular basis," the minister said.

There are still 249 foreign pilots employed by the various segments of the domestic industry as of December 1, 2017, he added.