Indigo Is 1st Airlines In The World To Resume Hiring! 32 New Pilots Appointed, 25 New Jets Bought

It seems that the clouds of the gloomy times are finally starting to disappear as IndiGo, the world’s largest airline being the first airlines in the world to resume hiring since Covid-19 wreaked havoc on the aviation industry.

Indigo Hiring Again

It appears that pandemic hit a few sectors harder than the others and air travel space is one of them as it wiped tens of thousands of jobs in this space. 

During This time, IndiGo had slashed its workforce by 10 per cent last year.

But now, showing a positive sign, the airline has given offer letters to around 32 pilots for the ATR-72 fleet ,according to the company executives.

Not only that, the airline has also confirmed the delivery of the next set of 25 ATR-72 jets.

Also plans to induct around 10 planes by the end of this calendar year, further making it the largest regional fleet operator in India.

Positive Outlook Of Indigo

IndiGo’s Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta had said the company might start rehiring soon in December.

Saying, “Doom and gloom is off the table, and we are recovering pretty nicely, especially domestically,”.

Further, a senior company executive said, “We want to plan ahead. Since there will be a steady induction of ATR-72 jets this year, we have to keep the pool of pilots ready,”.

Moreover, Indigo had given priority to those pilots who had got an offer to join the company in December 2019 but were not inducted due to the impact of Covid-19. 

The airline prefers to hire Indian pilots rather than expats to bring down the salary bill, sources said.

No Hiring For Airbus A320 Family Aircraft

Although, it is not likely to restart hiring for the Airbus A320 family aircraft, which is the mainstay of its fleet. 

In 2020, IndiGo inducted around 44 aircraft in 2020, which is by far the highest by any airline across the world.

But, all of them were replaced as the airline was phasing out hundreds of older aircraft.

 The executive said, “For the A320 aircraft, we don’t see any immediate requirement of pilots as the size of the fleet will remain the same,”.

So far, the IndiGo spokesperson has refused to comment on the company’s hiring plans.