"Sky Isn't The Limit": Air India In Pilot Hiring Ad Amid IndiGo Crisis

The sky is not the limit; it's just the beginning, says Air India in a hiring advertisement calling pilots to apply for a career in the Tata group company. The airline that the Tata group bought back from the government in October 2021 said it is looking to hire pilots for its fleet of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 - the backbone of the short- to medium-haul market.

The otherwise vanilla hiring ad that would interest only genuine pilots received huge attention from users on social media due to one major development in India's civil aviation sector - the crisis at Air India's competitor, IndiGo.

Since last week, India's civil aviation sector has been hit by disruptions, cancellations, delays, and rescheduling of flights by IndiGo due to a sudden shortage of pilots and crew. The situation emerged after IndiGo enforced the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules issued by the regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last year.

"Command the future of Indian aviation. We are inviting experienced B737 and A320 pilots to join our growing fleet. Submit your applications by December 22," Air India said in a post on Instagram.

Air India's hiring call comes at a time when IndiGo is struggling to hire more pilots to stabilise flight operations affected by the new FDTL rules. FDTL in simple terms ensures pilots get enough rest between flights, among other mandatory conditions. The change in FDTL, therefore, led to a cascading effect on IndiGo's flight schedules.

For the A320 fleet, Air India said it is looking for experienced "type rated" pilots in command. The airline said that for the B737 fleet, it wants to hire both experienced "type rated" and "non-type rated" pilots.

Type rating refers to a certification for pilots who have completed training and testing on a specific type of aircraft.

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IndiGo continued to cancel more flights despite announcing yesterday that flight operations and on-time performance were gradually improving.

Shares of IndiGo's parent firm InterGlobe Aviation Ltd fell 6.9 per cent today - the most in eight months. Mass cancellations by IndiGo, which has nearly 66 per cent domestic market share, left thousands of passengers stranded last week across airports as the carrier battled with a pilot shortage after failing to work around the new flight duty time rules.