Airhostess academies: ground reality

Promising a safe landing into the future, today more than 250 airhostess training institutes all over the country claim to provide a soaring career in aviation and hospitality. But with such dream jobs coming at a hefty cost, do these training institutes really deliver?
Frankfinn Institute claims to be the sole one providing the international vocational qualification of B.Tech HNC among the airhostess training institutes along with job assistance for 18 months after the completion of the course.
On the other hand, institutes like the Air Hostess Academy (AHA) claim to provide placements with reputed national and international airlines like Air Sahara, Air Canada, British Airways, and Jet Airways, offering a two-year and one-year diploma course in Aviation and Hospitality Management.
Seeing the hefty fee demanded by these institutes that are mushrooming in every nook and corner of the cities, it is important for students to carefully examine the placement records and quality of qualification offered by them.
The students studying at these institutes, on their part, have mixed views on this. “Joining the two-year diploma course in the academy has been quite a waste, the staff is non-serious and placement assistance is just a gimmick. Even the selection procedure is faulty; everyone appearing in the written test is selected, no matter how she performs. It pricks to have paid over a lakh and not having gained anything worthwhile,” says a student at a leading institute.
“In the last three batches of my institute branch, nobody, except one girl, has got a placement with any airline,” she claims.
“The training offered in these institutes is not in tune with the training undertaken for airlines. So, the value of the course is nil. I have friends who have had training from these institutes but are still unable to land a job in the industry,” points out Dimple Madnani, Airhostess, Jet Airways.
“In fact, some airlines prefer to have freshers over the ones possessing such certificates as they are considered to be naturally smart and fit for the job rather than making them fit for the job.”
On the other side, Adiba Siddiqui feels her training at an institute has made her confident and patient, providing the right grooming required for the job. She attributes her career in Gulf Air to the institute.
“The course has helped me to gain more confidence and a vivacious personality, I was quite an introvert before. This course has helped in social skills and interaction with passengers,” says an airhostess with Jet Airways.
So, what does it take to become an airhostess?
“Airlines are constantly on the lookout for high calibre, confident candidates with excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Maturity, positive attitude and a focus on service are other desired traits. Some basic criteria are a minimum age of 21 at the time of application, a minimum arm reach of 212 cm (on tip toes), education till at least high school and medical fitness to meet aircrew requirements,” says a spokesperson for Emirates Airlines, which provides on-the-job training to selected candidates at the Emirates Aviation College in Dubai.
“While recruiting the cabin crew it is not important whether the candidate possesses a certificate or diploma, as long as the candidate meets the required criteria by the airline,” she adds.
“The objective of the recruiters for the airline is often not on a par with the objective of the training institutes. While airlines insist on quality crew, the institutes are interested in luring more and more students in order to make some money. Thus, the student intake from the institutes is quite low,” says Surajit Banerjee, Vice President, HR, Spice Jet Airways.
“We have an intake of 10-15 per cent of cabin crew from the training institutes,” he mentions.
A piece of advice he gives to the institutes: “They need to be selective while giving admissions to the students.” He feels a certificate from a training institute acts as an added qualification for the candidate as it helps at the time of on- the-job training provided by the airline.
So, to have the money, glamour and travel on your side, it’s important to take off on the journey sensibly, keeping in mind lots of things before choosing an institute.
08/08/07 Anisha Ralhan/The Tribune