Air India to recruit 530 type-rated pilots on contract

In one of the biggest pilot recruitment drives, state-run Air India will hire about 530 type-rated pilots on contract for the carrier’s narrow-body fleet, expected to grow to about 80 aircraft by March 2018.

The present strength of this fleet is 66.

The fresh recruitment of Airbus A320 pilots is in line with Air India’s aircraft induction plans and aimed at overcoming the shortage which had many times led to cancellation of its flights at the last minute, according to a source.

At present, Air India has 1,441 pilots, with 670 of them flying 66 A320 family aircraft. Another 70 are under training. Air India’s pilot strength would cross 2,000 by May this year when the recruitment exercise gets completed, the source said.

Type rating is a regulating agency’s certification, given to a pilot to fly a certain aircraft type that requires additional training, which involves huge cost, beyond the scope of the initial licence and aircraft class training.

The government carrier has added 66 A320 family aircraft in its fleet, beside Boeing planes. It has already tied up with a Kuwaiti aircraft lessor to lease 14 A320neos, to be delivered by March 2017.

In addition to this, Air India would soon float tenders for leasing of 15 A320s to augment capacity.

"At the same time, we will also be phasing out some old classic A320s from the fleet. We expect our overall narrow body (A320 family) fleet to stand at around 75-80 aircraft by the end of March 2018," the source said.

Air India