Bullish on the growth prospects of Air India with a “healthy start” to its five-year transformation plan, its chief Campbell Wilson on Monday said the airline is hiring 550 cabin crew members and 50 pilots every month and six Wide-body A350 aircraft are also expected. in its fleet by the end of this year. After taking over the reins from the government in January last year, the Tata group has taken several measures to turn around the loss-making carrier’s fortunes, including placing the largest ever order for 470 aircraft and expanding international operations.
Talking about the airline’s hiring plans, Wilson, who is the managing director and CEO, said there is no target, but about 550 cabin crew members and 50 pilots are undergoing fresh training every month. In case of cabin crew members it is almost ten times and in case of pilots it is almost five times the annual rate of pre-privatisation airline, he told PTI in an interview in the national capital.
According to him, this pace of recruitment will continue for most of this year, reduce towards the end of this year and again accelerate towards the end of 2024. Against the backdrop of the process of merging Air India Express and AirAsia India (now known as AIX Connect), and Vistara with Air India, Wilson said they are also sensitive to consolidation which is subject to regulatory approval .
“The people are there, and (they) can fill the roles. We are calibrating on who we are bringing in from outside according to the people we have with the four airlines… We are consolidating the airlines and substantially growing from,” he said. , On what could be the number of employees all four airlines put together, Wilson said it would be around 20,000, excluding those hired as part of the growth strategy.
Earlier this month, Wilson told employees that since the beginning of this year, Air India and Air India Express have hired more than 3,900 people, including more than 500 pilots and 2,400 cabin crew members. “The first narrow-body aircraft will arrive around July or August. The first wide-body aircraft (A350) will arrive around October,” Wilson said of plans to include a landmark order for 470 aircraft placed earlier this year. “
Currently, Air India has 122 aircraft and is expanding its fleet. The airline expects to have six A350 and eight B777 aircraft by the end of this year. So far the company has taken 9 B777 aircraft on lease. In February, Air India announced that it would buy 250 planes, including 40 wide-body A350 planes, from European airline Airbus and 220 from American aircraft maker Boeing under separate deals.
The order includes 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s wide-body aircraft, as well as 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos and 190 Boeing 737 Max single-aisle aircraft. According to the Air India chief, the real transformation will happen from next year as it will get back all the leased planes, start retrofitting older planes and take delivery of the 470 aircraft ordered.
On the challenges ahead, Wilson said it would be the sheer scale and pace of change as the airline had been under-invested for some years. “So, transformation is critical to the needs of the main airline. It is also merging airlines … building training capacity and supporting an unprecedented growth path from a sustainable start,” he said.
Regarding the domestic industry, he said, “We all want a healthy, growing and stable ecosystem which is good for consumers, economy, passengers, airlines, employees…” Cycle of repeated failures Good for all stakeholders Not there . So, it is a natural evolution and it has happened elsewhere as well, he said.
On the ongoing five-year transformational plan ‘Vihaan.AI’, he said it has been a good start. On wet leasing of aircraft by airlines, Wilson said it is a short-term measure to keep supply and demand in balance.
“In the short term, that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do. In the long term, I think, we need to be careful that it doesn’t reduce the incentive to invest in your own property and to grow the market.” Puts skin in the game.” … in a sustainable manner,” he said. IndiGo has taken the aircraft on wet lease to expand its international presence.