Gandhinagar: Fewer promotional avenues in the Indian Air Force is forcing its pilots to seek voluntary retirement, a concerned IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said on Wednesday.
Naik disclosed that over 100 pilots have applied for pre-mature retirement due to lack of career growth and said this number could go up once the slump in the market is over.
"Off hand I can tell you that we have over 100 applications for VRS from pilots," the IAF chief told reporters, while replying to a question on the issue.
"We have a very steep pyramid structure (in the air force) where there are fewer avenues of promotions. When one does not get promotions after 24-25 years of service, one wants to leave and try alternative avenues," he said.
"Since there is a slump in the market outside there are fewer applications. Once the slump is over the (number of) applications might increase," he added.
The IAF, at present, has about 1,500 pilots flying fighter jets, transport aircraft and helicopters. Usually, pilots are selected at the entry stage and are attached to the flying branch of the IAF after training at the Air Force Academy in Dindigul near Hyderabad.
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A pilot in the IAF gets to fly actively for about 25 years of service up to the rank of Group Captain.
A pilot, who joins the IAF as a Flying Officer (equivalent to Army's Lieutenant rank), gets promoted up to the rank of Wing Commander (Lieutenant Colonel rank) on time scale within 14 years of service.
They become Group Captains (Colonel rank) on selection scale with 18 years of service and on time scale after 26 years of service.
Beyond Group Captain rank, their promotion to the ranks of Air Commodore, Air Vice Marshal, Air Marshal and Air Chief Marshal is done on a selection process.
As a result, most officers stagnate at the Wing Commander or Group Captain rank till their entire service period and retire at the age of 54 years.
A fresh recruit in the IAF used to get about Rs 25,000 as salary before the Sixth Pay Commission recommendation was implemented last October.
Since then, their salaries have gone up to nearly Rs 35,000 a month. A Group Captain in turn used to get Rs 45,000 before the Sixth Pay Commission, but now gets around Rs 60,000 a month.
As per data submitted to Parliament, 263 IAF pilots had sought pre-mature retirement from service between 2002 and 2004.
The last five years had seen a jump in the number of IAF pilots opting for voluntary retirement and seeking greener pastures in the private aviation sector, which witnessed growth and also paid the pilots in several lakhs of rupees.
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