Air India To Hire 900 Pilots, 4,200 Crew

Air India Ltd on Monday made aviation history with the biggest aircraft order ever, agreeing to purchase 840 aircraft, including 470 firm orders, from Boeing and Airbus that will help the Tata group airline expand its horizons in India and abroad.

The first aircraft to arrive will be 25 brand-new Boeing B737-800s and 6 Airbus A350-900s in the second half of the year, with deliveries really ramping up in 2025 and beyond. The airline has also announced plans to lease 36 aircraft of which two B 777-200 LR have already joined the fleet.

The cabin crew will undergo a 15-week programme. The training programme will include extensive classroom and in-flight training at the airline’s training facility in Mumbai as well as familiarization flights, the airline said.

The airline has already hired 1,900 cabin crew between May 2022 and February this year.

Out of this, over 1,100 cabin crew have been trained in the last seven months, and in the past three months, approximately 500 cabin crew have been released for flying by the airline.

“Cabin crew will play a decisive role in shaping the present and future of the Air India group. Addition of fresh talent will also accelerate the pace of cultural transformation at Air India, which is an integral part of our Vihaan.AI transformation program. We are also looking to step up hiring of more pilots and maintenance engineers," Sandeep Verma, head-inflight services, said.