The promise by Jet Airways last month, to restore staff salaries that were slashed during the downturn in 2008, is possibly the first sign that things are looking up in the airlines industry . With Indian carriers expanding operations and scouting the market for pilots, cabin crew and ground staff, watchers say a 25-30% hike in pay from the current levels, may be in the air.
“There is recovery in the sector, and we see a jump in salaries of about 25-30% from the current base levels,” says Kamal Karanth, MD of the global staffing company Kelly Services India. Moreover, ancillary airlines businesses are also likely to throw up many new job opportunities relating to the maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft.
After two years in a slump, the numbers are finally stacking up for Indian aviation. Airlines flew 520.21 lakh passengers last year — up 18.7% from 2009. This year, they are tipped to exhibit a 20% growth. This will translate into airlines hiring between 4,500-5,000 staffers across categories this year as they add 20% to their carrying capacity.
Government estimates suggest that on an average, every carrier in India will also add 30-40 aircraft per year over the next seven or eight years to its existing fleet, thereby creating more positions in terms of cabin crew and ground staff.
Airlines are trying to restore salaries to 2008 levels. “Since business is now generating cash, we need to put pressure on managements to restore salaries,” says a senior Jet Airways pilot. “While it will take time for this to happen, the salaries of new hires and expats have gone through the roof.”
Adds Rahul Goyal, president of HR consulting firm MaFoi Randstad: “There will be a 30-40% jump in the salaries of ground operators. Pilots will get the top slot in salaries.”
Even so, pilots will not have reason to cheer. With a dearth of senior Indian commanders, airlines, in a hurry to staff are looking at expatriate pilots. They don’t come cheap; on an average, they make one-and-a-half times more than a senior Indian commander with a private airlines, who gets Rs 5.5 lakh per month. With more foreigners willing to join Indian carriers, airlines are now spoilt for choice.
This, despite Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways warning, recently: “We cannot expand irrationally as we are also aware of the current market scenario for pilots. They are scarce.”
This blatant preference creates discontent among Indian commanders, as was demonstrated in 2009 when Jet Airways pilots formed a union (it was later de-notified) to protest the salary discrimination.
In fact, as many as 4,000 licence-holding, commercial pilots have been ‘benched’, thanks to expats. “It’s not just expats who get paid more, but airlines are also poaching pilots from competitors by paying double their existing salary,” says a pilot with a leading private airliner. “Freshers with a commercial pilot’s licence, who get an average salary of about Rs 1.5 lakh per month, were brought over for double that amount by Jet recently, which was looking to tap the growing market.”
Even the Gurgaon-based low-cost carrier IndiGo, sources say, pays 5% more than the industry average, and has emerged as one of the better paymasters.
Airlines are now looking to project themselves as good employers. “We can see two clear trends in the sector,” says Karanth.
“First, there is a lot of re-hiring of staff who were sacked during the downturn. And second, airlines are consciously trying to position themselves as employee-friendly. Carriers like IndiGo have initiated programmes for staff that adopt the best business practices in the sector.”
A major push for recruitment will come from the maintenance, repair and overhaul business (MRO). International firms in the MRO business have announced plans to open shop in India in the coming years, along with aircraft manufacturers like Boeing.
Airlines like Jet, too, have expressed interest in this growing business, while Air India has spun off a separate unit to investigate the potential in this area. “We expect MRO services to create over a lakh jobs in the next two to three years,” says Mr Goyal of Jet.
“There is recovery in the sector, and we see a jump in salaries of about 25-30% from the current base levels,” says Kamal Karanth, MD of the global staffing company Kelly Services India. Moreover, ancillary airlines businesses are also likely to throw up many new job opportunities relating to the maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft.
After two years in a slump, the numbers are finally stacking up for Indian aviation. Airlines flew 520.21 lakh passengers last year — up 18.7% from 2009. This year, they are tipped to exhibit a 20% growth. This will translate into airlines hiring between 4,500-5,000 staffers across categories this year as they add 20% to their carrying capacity.
Government estimates suggest that on an average, every carrier in India will also add 30-40 aircraft per year over the next seven or eight years to its existing fleet, thereby creating more positions in terms of cabin crew and ground staff.
Airlines are trying to restore salaries to 2008 levels. “Since business is now generating cash, we need to put pressure on managements to restore salaries,” says a senior Jet Airways pilot. “While it will take time for this to happen, the salaries of new hires and expats have gone through the roof.”
Adds Rahul Goyal, president of HR consulting firm MaFoi Randstad: “There will be a 30-40% jump in the salaries of ground operators. Pilots will get the top slot in salaries.”
Even so, pilots will not have reason to cheer. With a dearth of senior Indian commanders, airlines, in a hurry to staff are looking at expatriate pilots. They don’t come cheap; on an average, they make one-and-a-half times more than a senior Indian commander with a private airlines, who gets Rs 5.5 lakh per month. With more foreigners willing to join Indian carriers, airlines are now spoilt for choice.
This, despite Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways warning, recently: “We cannot expand irrationally as we are also aware of the current market scenario for pilots. They are scarce.”
This blatant preference creates discontent among Indian commanders, as was demonstrated in 2009 when Jet Airways pilots formed a union (it was later de-notified) to protest the salary discrimination.
In fact, as many as 4,000 licence-holding, commercial pilots have been ‘benched’, thanks to expats. “It’s not just expats who get paid more, but airlines are also poaching pilots from competitors by paying double their existing salary,” says a pilot with a leading private airliner. “Freshers with a commercial pilot’s licence, who get an average salary of about Rs 1.5 lakh per month, were brought over for double that amount by Jet recently, which was looking to tap the growing market.”
Even the Gurgaon-based low-cost carrier IndiGo, sources say, pays 5% more than the industry average, and has emerged as one of the better paymasters.
Airlines are now looking to project themselves as good employers. “We can see two clear trends in the sector,” says Karanth.
“First, there is a lot of re-hiring of staff who were sacked during the downturn. And second, airlines are consciously trying to position themselves as employee-friendly. Carriers like IndiGo have initiated programmes for staff that adopt the best business practices in the sector.”
A major push for recruitment will come from the maintenance, repair and overhaul business (MRO). International firms in the MRO business have announced plans to open shop in India in the coming years, along with aircraft manufacturers like Boeing.
Airlines like Jet, too, have expressed interest in this growing business, while Air India has spun off a separate unit to investigate the potential in this area. “We expect MRO services to create over a lakh jobs in the next two to three years,” says Mr Goyal of Jet.
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