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powers, streamlined their inventory management systems and got help from the manufacturer in streamlining the procedures. Moreover, the company started being ruthless about its dispatch reliability. If a commitment was undertaken then whatsoever be the bottom line, that promise was fulfilled. Most important, VVIPs learnt to trust Pawan Hans in that the pilots wouldn’t fly if it wasn’t safe. “In fact we refused some VVIPs. They telephoned me that your pilot has refused to fly. We talked to the pilot. He said a particular instrument wasn’t working. The VVIP said it (the instrument) is needed in the night. The pilot asked, what was the guarantee that he would return before night? So basically, it boiled down to dispatch relia-
bility, investment in their safety and giving respect to the people who are working,” said Captain Mahal who heads the operations at PHHL. There is also now a systematic training procedure in place where every pilot goes to France once in two years. For five days at a stretch they are on the simulators for ten hours each day. It’s a tough ask. Families are banned on these trips. Yes, if you want, you take leave and take your wife abroad on another trip, but not on this one. The logic is simple: after ten hours on the simulator you need to rest. In fact even after the simulator training you are not supposed to drive. No wonder all those who left Pawan Hans in the last five years are slowly returning to the organisation. Not just that, Pawan Hans has now set up a flying academy in Mumbai and has got
PHHL: MOVING AHEAD, A STEP AT A TIME
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Pawan Hans has acquired 25 acres of land in Rohini Sector-36 from DDA for construction of Delhi’s first heliport. M/s Rites Ltd. was awarded the contract for preparation of the feasibility report for the project. The final report has been submitted. Signed an MoU with Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) for enhanced Safety of Helicopter operations in India. As per the MoU, IMD shall provide support to the helicopter services of PHHL at all the airports and will install and operationalise Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) for provision of meteorological data at remote locations or helipads. Awarded a contract by GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited) for air surveillance of GAIL pipelines and other installations for a period of two years. MoU with DGCA for development of Helicopter Training Institute and heliport in Hadapsar Gliding Centre, Pune. Signed MoU with NTPC for providing services for a period of 10 years with full funds being provided by them. This helicopter would be provided to NTPC from the seven brand new Dauphin helicopters being acquired by PHHL. MoU with Andaman and Nicobar administration for introduction of sea plane operation in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The operations would begin in October, 2010. Helipad constructed at Commonwealth Games Village. Awarded charter hire of three helicopters for crew change task at ONGC for a period of five years. Oil India Limited contract on the lines of the GAIL contract. Signed contract for hotline washing of insulators of Kanpur area for the Power Grid Corporation. DGCA approved training institute for helicopter technicians and engineers named “Pawan Hans Helicopters Training Institute (PHTI)” at Mumbai and is in the process of enrolling 30 students in the first batch. Pawan Hans has charter helicopter services from Shastradhara helipad to Shri Kedarnathji and Badrinathji in season (May- June and September-October). Deployed chopper for passenger services on Pahalgam-Panjtarni sector during current Amarnath Dham Yatra. The contract with HAL for O&M of four Dhruv helicopters owned by BSF. MoU with Indian Navy for inducting naval pilots in PHHL.
CRUISING HEIGHTS October 2010
into a unique arrangement with the Air Force to generate more seasoned and experienced pilots for the private sector. As Tyagi said, “The fact remains that today there are 268 helicopters. It is also a hard fact remains that today you have more than 700 pilots. The question is from where have they come?” The armed forces are the biggest suppliers of these pilots. Soon after Tyagi took over, Pawan Hans unrolled an ambitious expansion programme. At that time the one question everyone asked was: What about the manpower? What Tyagi did was sign an MoU with the Air Force. It was an ingenious scheme: the Air Force sent their chopper pilots to Pawan Hans a few years before their retirement on deputation. Here they seamlessly transferred their strengths to civilian flying, went back to the IAF after two years and retired in their midfifties. Now that they had converted they still had ten productive years of flying available, primarily to Pawan Hans who had put them through their paces. “We have employed more than 70 pilots in the last one year through this route,” said Mahal. This changed attitude is also evident in other segments of Pawan Hans primarily in driving business, marketing the company and walking up to the customer and not waiting for him to come to it. But it hasn’t happened overnight. While Tyagi himself is an indefatigable marketer, there is little doubt that Deputy General Manager Sanjay Kumar too had a huge role to play in this. “We are available 24X7 for our customers and no demand of theirs is too much us,” said Kumar. It’s evident in the business that the corporation has ratched up in the last few years. Apart from a slew of state governments, they have a formidable relationship with the ONGC, GAIL, Power Grid Corporation and an increasing number of other PSUs and private sector entities who have slowly come to respect their work ethics. These work ethics are the byproduct of the hours and hours of leadership meetings held in-house and away from location where group heads meet to ideate, analyse and assess the future. A first step in that direction was an organisation-wide survey and one-to-one interactions with senior executives of the company. Next came a feedback workshop where each participant was requested to identify 10 most prominent weak areas out of the SWOT analysis presented during the workshop, which he/she would like to be addressed on priority. In all, 96 responses were received during these workshops, based on which seven areas have been identified to be tackled towards the first ‘Priorities for Action’, based on the intensity of the responses.