Air India on Friday announced that its maiden batch of cabin crew trainees and a significant batch of new pilots since privatisation have graduated. "The batch of 215 cabin crew and 48 pilots, all Indian nationals, received their wings following extensive training and are now cleared to operate as fully-qualified crew," it said in a statement.
Air India selected cabin crew candidates from more than 13,000 candidates from around the country. They passed through a 15-week programme imparting safety and service skills and were coached to exemplify the best of Indian hospitality and Tata group culture, the airline said.
The airline's training programme included classroom and in-flight training at Air India's training facility in Mumbai as well as familiarisation flights.
The 40 new male and eight women pilots completed their training at the airline's Hyderabad training campus and will commence operating on the Airbus A320 fleet.
As per Air India's statement, besides the two graduating batches, more than 59 new pilots were in various stages of training to support the airline's ambitious growth plan.
Campbell Wilson, CEO and Managing Director Air India said, "Air India is hiring across all business areas, and from all parts of the country, to support our transformation and ambitions growth plans." He said this is a crucial part of the airline's Vihaan.AI transformation programme.
"The reinforcement in the cabin crew will support expanding the network and fleet at Air India. The company has raised the frequency of flights between key cities in the domestic sector. It has also announced direct flights between Indian cities and key global destinations like Doha, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Birmingham. Further, Air India is set to commence direct flights from Delhi to key European cities like Milan, Vienna and Copenhagen, and from Mumbai to New York, Paris and Frankfurt," the statement added.
