Mere recruitment of trained pilots of
an airline by another airline will not bring about structural changes in the
operations of the market. CCI rejected Air India's allegation of predatory
recruitment of its trained pilots against IndiGo saying the matter is more of
an employment issue Facts:
a) The informant, Air India Ltd. filed
complaint against InterGlobe Aviation Limited (the ‘IndiGo’) under section19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 (the ‘Act’) alleging, interalia,
contravention of the provisions of
section 4 of the Act
b) It was alleged that the IndiGo has
systematically indulged in predatory recruitment of trained pilots of the Air
India for its proposed expansion and inducing them to breach contractual and
other obligations.
c) It is further alleged that the
IndiGo, by indulging in unlawful predatory recruitment practice, acquired a 52%
market share in the non-metro to non-metro flight sector, making it a monopoly
in that sector.
d) The Informant also stated that the
Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had made it
mandatory for pilots to obtain ‘No
Objection Certificate’ and, accordingly, all Airlines must
ensure that the pilots hired by them
have to serve the required six month notice period however, the IndiGo
continued to disregard this direction of DGCA
