Low-cost airlines step up hiring

New Delhi: Thanks to the economic revival, the Indian aviation industry has taken off again, overcoming fears of being grounded for long by the threat posed by last year’s slowdown. The massive growth in past two months, led by December’s record figure of 33% and January’s 23%, has led to airlines again looking at expanding their fleet and stepping up on the hiring front.
Budget carriers are very upbeat. The biggest Indian LCC, IndiGo, is looking at hiring 1,000 people — 100 pilots , 400 cabin crew and rest passenger service staff — this year. “Our current fleet size is 24 and this number will go up to 34 by year-end . IndiGo has 2,500 employees and the ongoing recruitment process will aim at hiring about 50-70 % fresh inexperienced cabin crew and airport staff who got trained but did not get a job during the slowdown,” Indi-Go president Aditya Ghosh said.
SpiceJet is also on a hiring spree as its fleet size will rise from 19 to 25 by year-end . The airline will also qualify for flying abroad this summer. It is now in the process of raising money to fund the expansion plan. Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya has also said the airline may add planes to its fleet while announcing his new international flights recently.
22/02/10 Saurabh Sinha/Economic Times