The floodgates opened when Captain Tenzin Tshering resigned in September 2006, along with senior engineer Thinley Dorjee. This was followed by one more senior engineer, Ugyen Namgyal, and two air hostesses, leaving for greener pastures in 2007.

“The corporation fears that this may only be the tip of the iceberg, with more staff members biding their time or secretly applying abroad,” said a Druk Air official.

“There is a huge international shortage of pilots, especially in neighbouring India, where the money is better and this is why some people want to leave,” said Druk Air’s managing director, Sangay Tenzin. Furthermore, with only two planes and a limited operating schedule, Druk Air has not been able to match the sky-high foreign salaries.

Druk Air pilots and engineers started leaving after they were trained to operate and repair the two new A319 planes from August to September 2004, in Beijing, under an agreement with Airbus.

“Those trained under the A319 planes can operate even A320 planes, both of which are used by airline companies across the world, and so all of a sudden our pilots and engineers are now in demand,” said Rinzin Dorjee of administration finance.

The ones, who have left and are in the process of trying to leave, are the most senior and experienced staff in Druk Air.

“If the two pilots leave, we’ll face a shortage and we may need to hire foreign pilots to meet our present commitments in terms of flights and leases,” said DMD (Finance) Rinzin Dorjee.

A senior pilot in Druk Air earns around Nu 160,000 a month after it was hiked from Nu 97,000 from January 1, 2007. The average salary for an engineer was also raised to more than Nu 50,000 a month, up from Nu 35,000. “This hike was prompted by the fact that Thinley and Tenzin had left Druk Air in 2006,” said an official. But this does not compare with what those who have left for foreign companies are earning. A former engineer is now getting around Nu 280,000 a month, while pilots can earn anything from Nu 400,000-600,000 and above a month. “But the work is also equally gruelling with some pilots even getting blisters due to the long hours of work,” said a pilot.

“It’s an unfortunate situation because close to USD 200,000 is spent on completely training a pilot,” said Druk Air’s managing director. Apart from a 14 to 15 month basic training for a flying license, Druk Air also sends its pilots and engineers for training to countries like France, Spain, USA, New Zealand and Thailand.

The last training in 2004, to upgrade for the new A319 plane, cost around Nu 1.6 million a pilot and around Nu 750,000 an engineer.

Druk Air now has a legal dispute with Captain Tenzin on the reimbursement to be paid to fulfill the bond. “This case is crucial for us because, if this court case goes the Captain’s way, then there will be a loophole created by which we may lose our pilots to foreign companies,” said an official.

“Money is a motivation, yes, but, besides that, some of the pilots are not very happy with the management over certain personal issues, one of them being favouritism,” said a pilot on the condition of anonymity.