Carriers on a hiring spree

Mumbai: Bucking recessionary trends, carriers, such as IndiGo, SpiceJet and Paramount Airways, have set the ball rolling by hiring people across departments since January this year. This includes pilots, cabin crew, airport managers, senior analysts, supervisors and ground instructors. IndiGo, the largest among the budget carriers, will hire up to 50 pilots for its Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune operations.
“We are looking to hire 30-50 captains and the recruitment process should conclude soon,” said IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh. The carrier currently employs 228 pilots for its fleet of 19 aircraft and plans to add 30 more destinations to its network by 2010. Today, it has more than 100 flights connecting 20 domestic destinations and accounts for a market share of 14.7%.
Joining IndiGo is Gurgaon-based SpiceJet that hired pilots — including expats — last month, with another round of hiring expected to be completed by March. It plans to increase the number of flights by a fifth in the current fiscal and double the frequency on routes like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. The number of daily flights will increase to 120 from 98 at present in 20 cities.
Chennai-based Paramount Airways has released recruitment advertisements for pilots, cabin crew, airport managers, inflight supervisors and ground instructors. The carrier, which is expanding its fleet, has a network of 12 destinations in the country.
Although, the global economic economic scenario is gloomy, the trigger for the aviation sector has come in the form of a 60% drop in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices since last September, according to experts.
Those in the training business are understandably relieved.
05/02/08 Mithun Roy/Economic Times