The last date of applications for Director (Operations) Air India ended on April 25. It's a newly-created post that requires technical qualifications and experience.The post has become a matter of discussion among top executives of CPSEs. Unlike other CPSEs, it has narrowed down the competition by making flight experience a mandatory one. It has left minimum avenues for civil servants and external candidates. The post, advertised on March 09 this year, requires commercial pilot with at least 10,000 hours of flying experience in various type of aircraft available in the passenger transportation in India, of which 5000 hours should be as Pilot-in-Command on any type of aircraft in the current fleet of Air India i.e. Airbus, Boeing and turbo-prop type of aircraft. A regular Pilot in the Indian Armed Forces can be short-listed if he/she has at least 15 years of flying experience. Indianmandarins has learnt that a few names have been shortlisted for the selection interview: Captain Soman, Captain Chetan Prakash, Captain Govil and Ms Harpreet Singh, ED Flight Safety.. Reportedly, the post was created in the third week of November 2015..