Air India onboarded 650 pilots since April this year, says CEO

Mumbai: Air India group airlines have recruited and onboarded as many as 650 pilots since April this year, according to Air India CEO Campbell Wilson.

Besides, Air India's widebody Boeing 777 fleet will have two more B777s by the first week of this month, with one of them already added to the fleet, which will help the airline enhance services to the US and upgauge capacity, he said.

Air India group comprises full service Air India and its two wholly-owned subsidiaries -- Air India Express and AIX Connect (erstwhile AirAsia India).

Last year, Air India announced its plans to induct on lease 11 B777s -- six B777-300ER and five B777-200-LR, primarily to operate its flights on North American routes.

He also said that two of the three long-grounded Boeing 787s have also returned to service.

Significantly all this comes amid the aviation safety regulator DGCA temporarily suspending all training at Air India's Mumbai and Hyderabad facilities after it found certain "lapses" during a spot check.

The Mumbai facility imparts training to Boeing fleet pilots and the Hyderabad facility is used for training of operating the narrowbody Airbus A320 family fleet.

"The Group Hiring Cell (GHC) has successfully recruited and onboarded more than 650 pilots since April 1," Wilson said in his weekly message to Air India employees.

GHC is the airline's first integrated, cross-AOC (air operator certificate) and cross-functional teams.

Executives from the three airlines came together to recruit pilots en masse, he said, adding that recruitment is (still) going on.

Moreover, "the first week of September and this week saw the addition of not one but two new Boeing 777 aircraft to our fleet -- the fifth and sixth of the year so far," Campbell said.

Of these two, one is 777-200LR which will be deployed on North American routes, allowing Air India to upgrade more San Francisco and New York frequencies with a premium economy class as well, according to him.

The other is the first of the six new B777-300ER that will be used to upgauge capacity on other routes, he said.