IA golden handshake for 40-plus airhostesses

New Delhi: Indian (Airlines) is introducing a new voluntary retirement scheme for airhostesses above 40 years. IA is offering a minimum of Rs 25 lakh and also a guaranteed employment for one member of the family as part of the operational crew.
A major attraction of the scheme is that if the employee accepting the VRS has a daughter, she can be taken on board as an airhostess. The average age of airhostesses in Indian Airlines is well above the industry average, largely due to the fact that a government ban on recruitment in the non-operational categories has been in place since 2000.
Indian Airlines currently has 1,420 personnel as part of its cabin crew, of which 1,170 are airhostesses each drawing an average salary of Rs 5 lakh a year. The starting salary for the flight crew ranges between Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 which can go up to Rs 35,000-40,000 a month.
In Jet airways, the average age of cabin crew is 24 years, with an average initial salary of Rs 28,000 that can go up to Rs 38,000 for crew with more than five years of experience. The average of other private carriers also ranges between 23 to 25 years.
15/02/07 Atreyee Dev Roy/Financial Express