Air India Group Onboards 650 Pilots and Adds Boeing 777s to Fleet

Since April of this year, 650 pilots have been hired and onboarded by Air India group airlines, according to Campbell Wilson, CEO of Air India.

Additionally, two additional widebody Boeing 777s would be added to Air India's fleet by the first week of this month; one of them has already been added, he said. This will allow the airline to upgauge capacity and improve flights to the US.

Air India Group includes full-service airlines. Air India includes its two fully-owned subsidiaries, AIX Connect (formerly known as AirAsia India), and Air India Express.

Air India revealed intentions to lease 11 B777 aircraft last year, including six B777-300ERs and five B777-200-LRs, largely to operate its flights on North American routes.

Two of the three long-stranded Boeing 787s, he said, had also been brought back into operation.

All of this is significant because it occurs at the same time as the aviation safety authority DGCA has temporarily suspended all training at Air India's facilities in Mumbai and Hyderabad after discovering certain "lapses" during a spot inspection.

The Hyderabad facility is utilized for training pilots operating the narrowbody Airbus A320 family aircraft, while the Mumbai facility trains pilots for the Boeing fleet.

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

The first integrated, cross-AOC (air operator certificate) and cross-functional teams for the airline are GHC.

He said that mass recruiting of pilots was conducted by executives from the three airlines and that it is currently ongoing.

In addition, "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.

According to him, one of these two, the 777-200LR, would be used on North American routes, enabling Air India to upgrade additional San Francisco and New York frequencies and add a premium economy class.

The other is the first of six brand-new B777-300ER, which will be utilized, according to him, to increase capacity on other routes.