Air India's Massive Hiring Plan Days After Historic Order For Jets

Air India announced today that it will hire over 900 pilots and 4,200 cabin crew trainees in 2023 as part of its big expansion plan. 

Earlier this month, the Tata-owned airlines had announced that it has signed multi-billion dollar deals with France's Airbus and American plane-maker Boeing to buy 470 passenger aircraft in the largest shopping event in commercial aviation history. The price for the entire 470-aircraft deal would be between $70 and $80 billion.

It has already announced plans to lease 36 aircraft of which two Boeing 777-200LR have already joined the fleet.

The cabin crew will be recruited from around the country and will undergo a 15-week training program. Between May 2022 and February 2023, Air India hired over 1,900 cabin crew. 

"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. 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," said Sandeep Verma, head of Air India's inflight services.

To cope with India's growing air traffic, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday said that the aviation body will undergo extensive upgradation. 

"We have already discussed the expansion plan to upgrade and strengthen DGCA. We are also planning to open six new regional offices in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Agartala, Amritsar, Nagpur, and Dehradun," said Arun Kumar, Director General of DGCA, as quoted by news agency ANI.

The DGCA is also recruiting additional staff to boost regulatory oversight, Mr Kumar said.