Air India on Friday said it plans to hire more than 4,200 cabin crew and 900 pilots this year as the carrier expands its fleet and operations. \

The announcement comes close on the heels of the carrier placing an order to buy 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, including 70 wide-body planes.

The airline, which was taken over by the Tata group in January 2022, also plans to lease 36 aircraft and out of them, two B 777-200 LRs have already been inducted.

An Air India release said it “plans to hire over 4,200 cabin crew trainees and 900 pilots in 2023 as the airline adds new aircraft and rapidly expands its domestic and international operations”. Between May 2022 and February this year, the airline hired more than 1,900 cabin crew.

“Over 1,100 cabin crew have been trained in the last seven months (between July 2022 and January 2023), and in the past three months, approximately 500 cabin crew have been released for flying by the airline,” the release said. Sandeep Verma, head-inflight Services at Air India, said the addition of fresh talent will accelerate the pace of cultural transformation at the airline and added that it is also looking to step up the hiring of more pilots and maintenance engineers.

The cabin crew will undergo a 15-week programme to impart safety and service skills and will be coached to exemplify the best of Indian hospitality and the Tata group culture.

The training programme will include extensive classroom and in-flight training at the airline’s training facility in Mumbai as well as familiarisation flights, the release said.