Mumbai, Apr 16 (Mumbai Mirror): The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have both cautioned Jet Airways against hiring expat pilots. On Friday, the BJP asked the airline to clarify its position on hiring expat pilots over unemployed Indian pilots and warned they would launch an agitation against the airline if they failed to do so within the next two days.

In a letter addressed to Naresh Goyal, BJP MLA Ram Kadam said that the party had information that the airline was intending to hire foreign pilots. "The party also wants to know if this move will result in the unemployment rate among Indian pilots going up," Kadam said.

On April 11, the MNS also sent Jet Airways a letter regarding the same issue, signed by Nitin Sardessai, president of the MNS's aviation wing. "We have learnt that the airline is in the process of hiring 50 foreign pilots," said Nayan Kadam, vice-president of the wing. "Management representatives have agreed for a meeting on Monday with our party president Raj Thackeray."

Jet had planned to hire 50 expat pilots, as six of its Boeing 777 aircraft, currently on lease to Etihad Airways, its Abu Dhabi-based partner, will return to its fleet. Jet would need the additional pilots from June. One airline pilot said that Jet Airways planned to deploy these returning planes and new pilots to Amsterdam, Paris and Toronto. Jet currently operates Airbus A330 on these routes and currently has 80 expats flying its Boeing 737 short haul flights.