Tatas on a hiring spree for Air India; plans to hire over 4200 cabin crew and 900 pilots in 2023

On February 24, Tata-owned Air India announced plans to add 900 pilots and 4200 cabin crew in 2023. Air India’s announcement comes after the company’s multi-billion-dollar deal with Airbus and Boeing to purchase 470 passenger aircraft. Air India officials have stated that the recruitment focuses on adding fresh talent to “accelerate the pace of cultural transformation”.

Air India also hired around 1900 crew members between May 2022 and February 2023. Around 500 crew members have been released for flying in the last three months after completing training. At present, Air India has about 1600 pilots to operate 113 aircraft and Air India’s hiring spree plans to meet the crew shortage.

On February 14, the Tata-owned Air India announced the company’s multi-billion-dollar deal with Airbus and Boeing to purchase 470 passenger aircraft. Under this deal, the company will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus and 220 from Boeing.

Tata Sons and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran commented on the company’s ambitious fleet expansion. He said, “Air India is on a large transformation journey across safety, customer service, technology, engineering, network and human resources. Modern, efficient fleet is a fundamental component of this transformation. This order is an important step in realising Air India’s ambition, articulated in its Vihaan.AI transformation program, to offer a world-class proposition serving global travellers with an Indian heart.”

He continued, “These new aircraft will modernise the Airline’s fleet and onboard product, and dramatically expand its global network. The growth enabled by this order will also provide unparalleled career opportunities for Indian aviation professionals and catalyse accelerated development of the Indian aviation ecosystem.”

Air India’s press release states, “The first of the new aircraft will enter service in late-2023, with the bulk to arrive from mid-2025 onwards. In the interim, Air India has already started taking delivery of 11 leased B777 and 25 A320 aircraft to accelerate its fleet and network expansion.”