Tata Group-owned Air India to hire over 1,000 pilots, to expand its fleet

Air India will hire over 1,000 pilots including captains and trainers, the company said in a release on Thursday. 

The advertisement released by AI read, "We are offering multiple opportunities and accelerated growth across our A320, B777, B787, and B737 fleet for captains and first officers, as well as trainers," adding that more than 500 aircraft are joining its fleet.

The move to hire more pilots comes as the Tata Group-owned airline plans to extend its fleet and network. Air India has placed an order for 470 aircraft with Boeing and Airbus, including wide-body planes. According to media reports, the latest Airbus firm order comprises 210 A320/321 Neo/XLR and 40 A350-900/1000. The Boeing firm order comprises 190 737-Max, 20 787s, and 10 777s.

The decision to hire pilots comes at a time when the existing employees have flagged concerns about revamping their salary structure and service decisions.  According to a recent media report, the pilots of Air India reached out to Tata Sons Ltd Chairman Emeritus Ratan Naval Tata. In an online petition, the pilots said, "Their morale is low as they are not being treated with respect and dignity by the airlines' Human Resource (HR) Department."

The airline currently has over 1,800 pilots.

On April 17, the carrier rolled out a revamped compensation structure for its pilots and cabin crew, which has since been rejected by the two pilot unions - Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), who accused the airline for not consulting them before finalising the new contracts and that it is an alleged violation of labour practices.

(With inputs from agencies)