Air India Express on hiring spree; brings 280 pilots, 250 cabin crew onboard

Air India Express has been focusing on strengthening its workforce since October last year (File image)

Air India Express, the low-cost international carrier to which AirAsia India is being integrated with, has been on a hiring spree recently, with around 280 pilots and 250 cabin crew personnel brought onboard through the recruitment drives conducted in various cities, a release said on May 16.

The latest recruitment drive was conducted in Mumbai on May 15, which "witnessed a significant turnout of pilots, bolstering the airline's effort to meet the growing demands of its operations," the airline said.

This was preceded by similar drives conducted in New Delhi on May 10-11 and Bengaluru on May 12-13. Approximately 300 pilots participated in the selection process conducted during these events, the statement added.

The recruitment drives for cabin crew members have been conducted over the past few days in the major metropolitan cities, along with cities and towns such as Imphal, Guwahati, Surat, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Kochi, Kozhikode and Mangalore, the airline further noted.

The hiring comes in the backdrop of a number of carriers facing a stressful period, with Go First becoming the second airline in the past three years to halt its operations. The troubled airline faces the possibility of a mass exodus of pilots, while it has filed for bankruptcy.

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Formerly under the Indian Government, Air India Express is now owned by the Tata Group, which acquired the airline along with the full-service carrier Air India in late January last year.

Besides Air India and Air India Express, Tata Group also owns domestic budget carrier AirAsia India as well as a 51 per cent stake in its joint venture airline with Singapore Airlines, Vistara.

While Vistara is in the process of merging with Air India, AirAsia India is being integrated with Air India Express.

Air India Express said it has been actively focusing on strengthening its workforce since October last year, targeting vacancies for pilots and cabin crew members.

Following the merger with AirAsia, the airline's plan is to use the combined resources of Air India and Tata Group to "serve the rapidly expanding Indian domestic market as well as the regional short-haul international market to and from India", the release noted.

With PTI inputs