Air India Receives Unprecedented Response To Its Talent Augmentation Programme

* Talent being inducted across the business to support Vihaan.AI vision

Air India, India's leading airline, revealed an unprecedented level of interest in its talent augmentation programme, which forms a key pillar of its five-year transformation roadmap, Vihaan.AI.

The airline, which had not recruited in non-operations areas for more than 15 years, is quickly adding talent in all spheres of its business, ranging from Commercial functions like revenue management, sales, distribution, network planning and marketing; Business Support Services including HR, finance, IT and analytics; as well as Operations, spanning inflight product design, ground, engineering & airport services, rostering and operations control.

The airline’s aggressive expansion plan, which has already seen 17 long-grounded aircraft return to the skies with 12 more to follow, and the lease-in of 30 narrow- and wide-body aircraft over the next 12 months, also necessitates a significant expansion in flying crew.

The first phase of this initiative to augment talent has received an overwhelming response Over 1,752 applications for pilots and 72,000 applications for cabin crew have been received in the last two months, which are in the process of assessment. 

Interest from management post-graduates with three years’ experience to fill ground based business roles has been similarly strong, with over 25,000 applications received in little more than one week.  On appointment, those selected will be placed in various functions in Air India including airport operations, commercial, engineering and human resources among others, and will form an important part of Air India’s internal talent and future leadership pipeline.  

With Vihaan.AI placing high priority on becoming a world leader in information technology, Air India has received more than 2,000 applications for a New Tech centre at Kochi, Kerala, including developers, architects, cyber security professionals, programme managers and UX/ visual designers among others.  

Commenting on the focus on next-gen talent acquisition, Mr. Suresh Dutt Tripathi, Chiief Human Resources Officer, Air India, said, “An entire generation of workforce has missed the opportunity to work for Air India due to limited recruitment over the years. We are seeking to make up for this organisational gap as we work to make Air India the world’s leading airline with customer focus at the heart of its operations. Our talent acquisition initiative is focused on identifying and recruiting the right talent in order to ensure that our human resource capabilities keep pace with the growth momentum and evolving needs of the organisation. The induction of new generation talent is also essential to bring about cultural change that will make Air India an employer of choice. The initial response to our various job postings has been tremendous and we are committed to meeting the aspirations of those seeking a fulfilling career with Air India.” 

Attracting the industry’s best talent is one of the five identified pillars of Vihaan.AI, Air India’s transformational roadmap. The other pillars of Vihaan.AI include exceptional customer experience, robust operations industry leadership, and commercial efficiency and profitability. Air India is committed to invest in further strengthening its HR base with industry-best talent in different spheres of its functioning as part of its well-defined transformation agenda.

For more information, please visit www.airindia.in 

About Air India:

Founded by the legendary JRD Tata, Air India pioneered India’s aviation sector. 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. Air India is a member of Star Alliance, the largest global airline consortium. After 69 years as a Government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were welcomed back into the Tata group in January 2022. The present management at Air India is driving the five year transformation roadmap under the aegis of Vihaan.AI to establish itself as a world-class global airline with an Indian heart.

Vihaan.AI is Air India’s transformational roadmap over five years with clear milestones.  It will be focussing on dramatically growing both its network and fleet, developing a completely revamped customer proposition, improving reliability and on-time performance. The airline will also be taking a leadership position in technology, sustainability, and innovation, while aggressively investing in the best industry talent. Vihaan.AI is aimed at putting Air India on a path to sustained growth, profitability and market leadership.

About the Tata Group:

Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata group is a global enterprise, headquartered in India, comprising 30 companies across ten verticals. The group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents, with a mission 'To improve the quality of life of the communities we serve globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation based on Leadership with Trust’.

Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. Sixty-six percent of the equity share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation, and art and culture. In 2020-21, the revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $103 billion (INR 7.7 trillion). These companies collectively employ over 800,000 people. Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own board of directors. There are 29 publicly-listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalisation of $314 billion (INR 23.4 trillion) as on December 31, 2021. Companies include Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consumer Products, Titan, Tata Capital, Tata Power, Tata Communications, Indian Hotels, Tata Digital and Tata Electronics.