Market Intelligence: Indian Subcontinent

Air India, India’s leading airline and a Star Alliance member, announced that its maiden batch of cabin crew trainees and 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.

Selected from more than 13,000 candidates from around the country, the cabin crew trainees 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 training program included extensive classroom and in-flight training at the airline’s training facility in Mumbai as well as familiarisation flights.

The new pilots, comprising 40 men and 08 women, completed their training at Air India’s Hyderabad training campus, and will commence operating on the Airbus A320 fleet. Besides the two graduating batches, more than 59 new pilots are in various stages of training to support the airline’s ambitious growth plan.

Commenting on the development, Mr. Campbell Wilson, CEO & Managing Director, Air India, said, “We are delighted to welcome these new Air Indians to the team, handpicked from India’s growing pool of talent. Air India is hiring across all business areas, and from all parts of the country, to support our transformation and ambitions growth plans. Attracting and developing enthusiastic and capable people is an important and crucial part of our Vihaan.AI transformation program” The reinforcement in the cabin crew will support the continued expansion of network and fleet at Air India. The company has raised the frequency of flights between key cities on the domestic sector and 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.

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, SouthEast 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.

Source: Air India Press Release
Photo Credit: Air India

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