Hiring in aviation sector witnesses gradual pickup, to gain momentum from Q4: Experts

Illustration: Suneesh Kalarickal

Despite the air traffic gradually moving towards pre-pandemic levels and airlines operating at full capacity, hiring in the aviation sector continues to be slow with recovery only up to 18-20 percent, staffing firms told Moneycontrol.

Experts noted that the pace of hiring in the sector lags that of other segments where employment numbers are rising.

Jhanvi Trivedi, national practice head (associate director), services and building materials at headhunting firm ABC Consultants, said, “The market for aviation has not recovered like it has for other sectors so it is looking to cut costs for hiring. If there is a replacement position that comes up, they try and fill it internally. So there is pressure on the overall sector and hiring is much lower compared to other sectors.”

“We anticipate it will take another three to six months when hiring for business expansion will actually open up,” she added.

According to Trivedi, there has been only a 20-25 percent recovery in hiring in the aviation sector and it may take another six months to one year to reach pre-pandemic levels.

She also noted that, though passenger traffic has picked up, not many people are travelling for travelling's sake, given that RTPCR norms vary from place to place and vaccinations have not started for children. 

Gautam Vohra, vice-president and business head, telecom and engineering staffing at manpower services company TeamLease Digital, said, “We have seen a positive impact in terms of hiring which is happening on a holistic level. Similarly, we have seen that hiring is happening on the aviation side also. However, if the aviation industry has to really move up to the level it was at earlier, it would take at least by the fourth quarter (January-March).

The current trends show hiring in the sector is selective and bent towards the technical side—ground maintenance and IT infrastructure—as the government has started  opening up more airports at tier 2 and 3 cities, he added.

On October 20, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a new international airport at Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. According to reports, the Airports Authority of India is planning to develop at least 100 airports by 2024 under the regional air connectivity scheme.

Both Trivedi and Vohra noted that opening up of new airports in smaller towns, a further extension in vaccine coverage and improvement in travel sentiment will drive the demand for jobs and hiring in the aviation sector.

Sanjay Shetty, director, professional search and selection and strategic accounts at human resources firm Randstad India, said that although there is an uptick in hiring, the momentum will completely depend on the COVID-19 situation in the country.

“The hiring numbers won’t hit pre-pandemic levels anytime soon as organisations would be in a ‘wait and watch’ mode before they go all out in terms of increasing their permanent headcount. However, the sentiment is definitely positive,” said Shetty.

Since demand from the customer end continues to be volatile, this quarter could give the necessary push to the sector to be able to at pre-pandemic levels by 2022, he added.

Shetty said hiring sentiment in the travel industry has witnessed a gradual uptick this quarter after the initial contraction and job losses in the beginning of this year. He added that an increase in passenger traffic due to the restoration of 100 percent seat capacity and privatisation in the sector should increase job opportunities across positions like pilots, cabin crew, engineers, customer service and ground handling.