Air India: Giving Wings To Dreams Air India announced a mega order to purchase 470 aircraft from Boeing, Airbus and in order to support the growth story it plans to hire over 4,200 cabin crew trainees and 900 pilots in 2023

As Air India is rapidly expanding its domestic and international operations, it plans to hire over 4,200 cabin crew trainees and 900 pilots in 2023 .

Earlier this month, Air India announced a mega order to purchase 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus to support its growth plans. It has already announced plans to lease 36 aircraft of which, two B 777-200 LR have already joined the fleet. The cabin crew will undergo a 15-week programme imparting safety and service skills and will be coached to exemplify the best of Indian hospitality and Tata group culture. The training program will include extensive classroom and in-flight training at the airline's training facility in Mumbai as well as familiarization flights. Between May 2022-February 2023, Air India has hired over 1,900 cabin crew. Over 1,100 cabin crew have been trained in the last seven months (between July 22-January 23) and in the past three months, approximately 500 cabin crew have been released for flying by the airline.

Sandeep Verma, Head - Inflight Services said, "With a sizeable aircraft order that was announced earlier in the month, more flights on international and domestic networks and re-alignment of domestic routes with AIX connect, cabin crew will play a decisive role in shaping the present and future of the Air India group. Addition of fresh talent will also accelerate the pace of cultural transformation at Air India, which is an integral part of our Vihaan.AI transformation program. We are also looking to step up hiring of more pilots and maintenance engineers."

The Air India deal comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos; 20 Boeing 787s, 10 Boeing 777-9s widebody aircraft and 190 Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle aircraft. The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines and the B777/787s by engines from GE Aerospace. All single-aisle aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International.

The first of the new aircraft will enter service in late-2023, with the bulk to arrive from mid-2025 onwards. In the interim, Air India has already started taking delivery of 11 leased B777 and 25 A320 aircraft to accelerate its fleet and network expansion."The first aircraft to arrive will be 25 brand-new Boeing B737-800s and 6 Airbus A350-900s in the second half of 2023, with deliveries ramping up in 2025 and beyond," said Campbell Wilson, chief executive officer, Air India.

Since its first flight on October 15, 1932, Air India has an extensive domestic network and has spread its wings beyond to become a major international airline with a network across USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Far-East, South-East Asia, Australia and the Gulf.