Even as full service carriers like Jet Airways and Kingfisher are implementing an agenda to trim down capacity, low cost carriers like IndiGo and SpiceJet are taking the lead in the market and hiring people.
As a result, air hostess training academies and cabin crew training centres are back in business. Leading academies like Frankfinn, AHA (Air Hostess Academy) and Avalon are flying high as budget carriers have set the ball rolling by hiring people across departments since January this year, bucking recessionary trends.
The recruitments are for the posts of pilots, cabin crew, airport managers, senior analysts, supervisors and ground instructors.
The New Delhi-based low-cost carrier SpiceJet has plans to recruit 400-500 people this fiscal. These will include 40 pilots and 60 cabin crew, besides those for security, reservations/ticketing and customer care. Even IndiGo has been a frequent visitor at campus recruitments organised at AHA and Avalon.
"With all these airlines hiring, our placement record has improved by 5 per cent compared with last year. We have placed approximately 900 students this year. Our students have got placed in hotels, travel agencies and ground handling agencies earlier," Sapna Gupta, founder and director of Air Hostess Academy, said.
Air hostess training institute Frankfinn said it will invest Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) in the next three years to increase its number of centers to 200 across the country and abroad. At present, Frankfinn has around 115 centres across the country.
"Apart from budget carriers, we also have international airlines coming to our campus and hiring students," said Preeti Malik, head, Avalon Academy.
The salary package offered to cabin crew is in the range of Rs 25,000-35,000, whereas the package offered to ground staff is between Rs 10,000 and Rs 12,000 approximately.