Air India hiring 550 cabin crew members, 50 pilots every month, expecting six A350 planes by 2023-end: CEO

Campbell Wilson, the CEO of Air India on Monday said that the airline is hiring 550 cabin crew members and 50 pilots every month and intends to have six wide-body A350 jets in its fleet by the end of this year, citing a "healthy start" to its five-year transformation plan.

Wilson further said that there is no set target for hiring, but that approximately 550 cabin crew members and 50 pilots are hired and trained each month.

"In the case of cabin crew members, it is about ten times and in the case of pilots, it is about five times on an annual rate of the pre-privatised airline," he told PTI in an interview in the national capital.

Wilson also told PTI that the momentum at which the company is hiring will continue to happen for most part of this year, slow down by the end of this year and then restart the hiring process again towards the end of 2024. "It (hiring pace) will match the induction of aircraft".

His comments come as the process of merging Air India Express and AirAsia India (now known as AIX Connect), and Vistara with Air India is on. Wilson said that it is a sensitive piece of information which is subject to regulatory approvals.

"There are people, and (they) can fill in the roles. We are calibrating on who we are bringing in from outside in accordance with who exists with the four airlines... we are consolidating the airlines and growing substantially," he said.

Wilson also said that the entire staff strength of all the four airlines put together would be around 20,000, barring those being hired as part of the growth strategy.

The Air India CEO had earlier said that Air India and Air India Express have hired over 3,900 people, including over 500 pilots and 2,400 cabin crew members, since the start of this year.

"The first narrow-body aircraft will come around July or August. The first wide-body aircraft (A350) will come around October," Wilson said about the induction plans from the historic order placed for 470 planes earlier this year.

Currently, Air India has 122 planes and is expanding its fleet.

The airline is likely to have six A350 and eight B777 aircraft by the end of this year. So far, the carrier has taken 9 B777 planes on lease.

In February, Air India announced that it would buy 250 aircraft, including 40 wide-body A350 planes, from European aviation major Airbus and 220 planes from US aircraft maker Boeing under separate deals.

The order comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s wide-body aircraft as well as 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos and 190 Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle aircraft.

Wilson also hinted that the actual changes will reflect from 2024 as the airline will get all the leased aircraft, start retrofitting old aircraft and deliveries from order for 470 planes.

Talking about the future challenges, Wilson said the airline will witness humongous change in scale and pace as the airline was less invested for quite some years.

"So, the transformation that the main airline needs is significant. It is also merging the airlines... building training capacity and supporting the unprecedented growth path from a standing start," he added.

Talking about the domestic industry, he said, "We all want a healthy, growing and stable ecosystem that is good for the consumers, economy, travellers, airlines, staff..."

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