Airways hotting up

India's airlines business is heading for a major shakeout as large number of private airline employees get set to join IndiGo.

India's airlines business is heading for a major shakeout as large number of private airline employees get set to join IndiGo, the latest venture with its 100-plane plans. IndiGo is potentially the biggest-player to start operations in early August.

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“All of a sudden there is lot of excitement. Many of us are considering a shift as the offers are too lucrative to resist,” said a senior engineer of an airline on the current buzz in the job street. Bearing the brunt are smaller airlines managing now with shoestring budgets and wafer-thin margins.

After the Jet-Sahara break up, private airline employees once again find themselves on top of the food chain as IndiGo begins its hiring spree, sweeping up engineers, pilots and support staff in a sector that is critically short of trained personnel.

Ground duty engineers currently earning a monthly salary of Rs 80,000 are being offered Rs 1.30 lakh as monthly compensation, said market sources. IndiGo is making similar offers for other grades.

“We are certainly hiring and will be hiring more in the months ahead,” said IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Bruce Ashby to HT. Denying hiring on premium, he said, "We are only paying market rates."