Air India Receives More Than 73,000 Applications for Pilots and Cabin Crew in Just Two Months

Air India, the Indian full-service carrier owned by Tata Group, said on Thursday that it has received over 1,752 applications for pilots and 72,000 applications for cabin crew in the last two months.

It may be noted that the loss-making carrier, which was acquired by Tata group in January of this year, has also received over 25,000 applications in less than a week from management postgraduates with three years of experience in ground-based business roles.

Air India has received over 2,000 applications for positions in a new tech centre in Kerala, including developers, architects, cyber security professionals, programme managers, and UX visual designers.

According to a release, the carrier, which has not been recruited in non-operations areas in more than 15 years, is adding talent across the board, including commercial functions, business support services, and operations.

“The airline’s aggressive expansion plan, which has already seen 17 long-grounded aircraft return to the skies with 12 more to follow, and the lease-in of 30 narrow- and wide-body aircraft over the next 12 months, also necessitates a significant expansion in the flying crew,” a release stated.

Suresh Dutt Tripathi, chief human resources officer at Air India, claimed that an entire generation of potential employees has been denied the chance to join Air India over the years due to a lack of recruitment.

“Our talent acquisition initiative is focused on identifying and recruiting the right talent in order to ensure that our human resource capabilities keep pace with the growth momentum and evolving needs of the organisation. The induction of new generation talent is also essential to bring about cultural change that will make Air India an employer of choice,” he added.

The airline has implemented the “Vihaan.AI” transformation plan and aims to triple the size of its fleet in the next five years.

On Tuesday, Air India MD and CEO Campbell Wilson stated that the company’s revival is a “Test match,” not a “T20 match.” He stated that the airline’s goal for the next five years is to have a 30% market share in both domestic and international markets.