NEW DELHI: TO meet the carrier’s expanding fleet, state-owned carrier, Air India said on Wednesday that it would recruit 500 pilots and more than 1,500 cabin crew in next two to three years.
According to the officials, nearly 150 pilots are expected to complete their training by December 2016 and start flying on various routes.
“We are planning to have 700 more pilots in the next two to three years keeping in view the fleet expansion. From last August till now, we have already recruited 250 pilots. So about 500 more pilots we are going to recruit. Advertisement for 400 pilots has already been floated,” said AI’s General Manager (Operations), N Sivaramakirshnan.
“We have plans to have cabin crew of 3,000 personnel. Beside the existing number, we are planning to take 1,500 more in the next two to three years,” he said.
He further added that in 2015, Air India had planned to hire about 200 trainee pilots. However, only 78 of those completed their training. Air India has about 858 pilots and the beleaguered airlines has lost around 100 pilots to other airlines since 2014.
Training facilities
Currently, Air India has three Airbus 320 simulators in Hyderabad and four in Mumbai that belongs to the Boeing family.
“We are planning to order one more simulator for training on ATR aircraft in Hyderabad. RFI (Request for Information) has already been floated.
By January next year we hope that it would be operational,” he said, adding that the cost of the simulator would cost around `65 crore and an additional `6 crore is needed for construction of building and other facilities for the ATR simulator.
Though Air India does not have any ATRs in its fleet, services will be provided to its wholly-owned subsidiary ‘Alliance Air’.