Sign in

Job applicants wary of Air India; no one turns up for interviews

It seems it’s not just passengers that are wary of flying Air India. To the Maharaja’s deep embarrassment, its plan to hire commanders (captains) directly through walk-in interviews failed to attract even a single applicant.

Updated on: Mar 12, 2015, 13:30:20 IST
Hindustan Times | By , New Delhi
Share
Share via
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
Copy link
  • copy link

It seems it’s not just passengers that are wary of flying Air India. To the Maharaja’s deep embarrassment, its plan to hire commanders (captains) directly through walk-in interviews failed to attract even a single applicant.

HT Image
HT Image

Walk-in interviews were organised in Hyderabad on Tuesday and Wednesday — part of AI’s broader recruitment plan to fill 197 vacancies of commander and first officer (co-pilot) posts for its Airbus fleet. “No commander turned up,” said an AI spokesperson.

“This is the first time in recent memory that the airline organised walk-in interviews for captains and it was completely mismanaged,” said an AI official.

An ‘interview panel’ of senior AI officials and outside experts was also flown in. “The board members were lodged in five-star hotels, and not a single person turned up,” said another. “Ideally, applications should have been invited online and panelists flown in only if there were applicants.”

“It’s a statement on the state of affairs at AI that a once-sought-after job failed to attract a single applicant,” said a senior pilot.

AI’s pilots union had recently opposed the move to directly hire captains — as reported by HT on March 2 — and warned that it had “the potential of creating industrial unrest”.

  • Tushar Srivastava
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Tushar Srivastava

    Tushar was part of Hindustan Times’ nationwide network of correspondents that brings news, analysis and information to its readers. He no longer works with the Hindustan Times.

Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.