Days after announcing mega deals to purchase 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, Air India on Friday announced that over 4,200 cabin crew trainees and 900 pilots will be hired in the year 2023 to meet its growing manpower needs.
Earlier this month, Air India announced two mega order to purchase 220 aircraft from Boeing and 250 aircraft Airbus to support its growth plans. The airline also has already announced plans to lease 36 aircraft of which two B 777-200 LR have already joined the fleet. Therefore, the airline needs to expand its manpower significantly.
“The cabin crew, who will be recruited from around the country, will undergo a 15-week programme imparting safety and service skills, and will be coached to exemplify the best of Indian hospitality and Tata group culture. The training program will include extensive classroom and in-flight training at the airline’s training facility in Mumbai as well as familiarization flights,” the airline said in a statement.
Notably, between May 2022 and February 2023, Air India has hired over 1,900 cabin crew. Over 1,100 cabin crew have been trained in the last seven months from July 2022 to January 2023, and in the past three months, approximately 500 cabin crew have been released for flying by the airline.
Currently Air India has around 1,600 pilots to operate its 113 aircraft fleet. Its two subsidiaries Air India Express and AirAsia India have around 850 pilots for their 54 planes. On the other hand, Vistara has more than 600 pilots. In recent times, there have been instances of ultra-long haul flights getting cancelled or delayed due to shortage of crew.
It is notable that Air India is in the process of merging AirAsia India and Vistara with Air India.
Commenting on the hiring plans, Sandeep Verma, Head for Inflight Services, said, “With a sizeable aircraft order that was announced earlier in the month, more flights on international and domestic networks, and re-alignment of domestic routes with AIX connect, cabin crew will play a decisive role in shaping the present and future of the Air India group.”
He further added, “The addition of fresh talent will also accelerate the pace of cultural transformation at Air India, which is an integral part of our Vihaan.AI transformation program. We are also looking to step up hiring of more pilots and maintenance engineers.”
