Hiring takes off in India's aviation sector as air traffic revives

A simple, straightforward advertisement appeared in newspapers this week. It read, “Alliance Air invites applications for various posts”, with “various posts” highlighted in bold. Before that, last month, a call from Jet Airways inviting cabin crew applications brought in over 700 CVs in five hours flat, the airline’s CEO Sanjiv Kapoor tweeted. And on July 2 when another airline, Air India, held job interviews, the cabin crew of IndiGo skipped work en masse to participate.

The skies have opened up for those in the aviation industry – in more ways than one. Air traffic has revived after two years of the pandemic and with two new airlines – Akasa Air and Jet Airways – hiring, opportunities are back on the horizon for pilots and cabin crew.

And so, many are looking out – more so, since salary levels have remained stagnant or are yet to be fully restored after pandemic-induced cuts, causing discontent among employees.

Akasa Air, which plans to start operations from July-end, has inducted 400 employees. “For the next several months, we will add approximately 175 additional employees per month. We expect to fly around 18 aircraft by the end of March 2023 with a strength of close to 2,000 employees,” said Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube.  “We are committed to building an employee-centric corporate culture and workplace where employees feel proud of the brand,” he added.

Indian carriers are also losing pilots and cabin crew to airlines in West Asia and elsewhere, which are re-hiring staff for expansion. In the last three months, airlines such as VietJet of Vietnam, Air Arabia and Gulf Air have also stepped up pilot hiring.

“At least four Indian captains holding green cards have taken up jobs as first officers in airlines in the US in recent months. This would have been unthinkable before 2020,” said a senior captain with a private airline.

According to him, there is no pilot shortage in India at present as airlines are yet to restore full capacity. “But the situation could change next year as Akasa Air expands its fleet. The availability of captains would also depend upon training capabilities in Indian airlines,” he added.

Aviation consultancy CAPA (Centre for Aviation) expects Indian carriers to add 40 aircraft in FY23. Net addition, however, will be lower as some of these will be for replacement.

“When pilots and crew are looking for jobs, it is not always about the money. It could be about rosters, work processes and engagement,” Surajeet Banerjee, chief people officer of flybig Airlines, said.

Jobs on the horizon

• Akasa Air to hire 175 people per month. Will have around 2,000 employees by March 2023
• When Jet Airways called for cabin crew applications last month, it received over 700 CVs in five hours, CEO Sanjiv Kapoor tweeted
• Indian carriers also losing pilots, cabin crew to airlines in West Asia and elsewhere

“Airlines,” he added, “had a tough time during the pandemic. Even employees suffered with pay cuts. Now, as the passenger demand is back, employees expect to be treated fairly.”

A case in point is aircraft technicians whose take-home salary is around Rs 20,000 a month. Senior technicians earn more. “It is difficult to survive in this inflationary environment with such a low salary,” complained a technician with IndiGo.

So the recent mass sick leave by aircraft technicians in Go First and IndiGo has been a wakeup call for airlines' management.

Technicians at IndiGo’s Hyderabad base went on a mass sick leave last Friday demanding a revision in salary. Soon, the agitation spread to other airports. Go First technicians, too, joined the protest, prompting the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to intervene.

Post the protests, IndiGo has decided to rationalise salaries of technicians and has also increased their transport allowance by Rs 1,000 a month.

“It is not that the management is blind to employee hardships. The airline itself is facing a tough cost environment,” said an IndiGo management executive.

“Technicians are like junior artistes of the film industry – overworked and underpaid. This needs to change,” said aviation consultant Vishok Mansingh. He added that while an airline requires a minimum of 11-12 pilots per aircraft, engineering jobs in the airline do not grow in the same proportion. “The requirement of engineers and technicians depends on the network and flight schedule.”

So while things are looking up for pilots and the cabin crew, the picture isn’t exactly rosy for technicians.

Airlines on their part say they are developing employee-friendly policies and are providing skilling opportunities to their staff. “We continue to focus heavily on ensuring that our team members are taking care of their physical and mental well-being and keeping stress levels at check,” said Deepa Chadha, senior vice president, (HR & Corporate Affairs), Vistara. “Development and continuous growth of our employees are taken very seriously at Vistara and we incessantly work towards cultivating a collaborative framework to cohesively achieve and celebrate goals.”

Go First and IndiGo did not respond to queries from Business Standard. In a statement issued on July 13, Go First had said staff salaries have been restored to pre-Covid levels since August/September 2021. And IndiGo had said it was in the process of addressing some of the issues related to employee remuneration.

AirAsia India, Air India and SpiceJet did not respond to emails sent to them.