Pilots, cabin crew recruitments up by over 80% as airlines expand operations
Despite severe headwinds in the aviation sector, the recruitment of pilots and staff crew by airlines has gone up substantially in the past two years.
According to data released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA), the hiring of pilots has gone up by 88.4 per cent while cabin crew recruitment saw rise of 82.8 per cent.
The past financial year has been very eventful starting with the fluctuation of the rupee, high ATF costs, grounding of Boeing 737 Max, the possible demise of Jet Airways and the potential disinvestment of state-run Air India and the overall economic slowdown. At the same time, several airlines have placed huge aircraft orders, expanded their operation network and hired expeditiously to meet the demands of a growing passenger base.
According to the MOCA data reviewed by BusinessLine, as of December, 2,301 pilots were recruited via recruitment exams held by scheduled airlines. In comparison, 1,221 and 1,696 pilots recruited in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
With 1,088 pilots hired in 2019, IndiGo remained at the top of the ladder of recruitment which was 148 per cent higher than in 2017. SpiceJet hired 398 pilots compared to 143 pilots in 2017. Air Asia hired 246 pilots which is 173 per cent higher than in 2017. Vistara too hired 224 pilots which is 194 per cent higher than that of 2017.
State-run Air India’s pilot recruits dropped from 232 pilots in 2017 to 21 pilots in 2019. GoAir had hired 109 and 275 pilots in 2017 and 2018 respectively, but in 2019, the airline only hired 179 pilots.
24/12/19 Forum Gandhi/Business Line