Amid crisis at Go First, Air India and Vistara hold interviews for A320 pilots

Vistara, too, posted about holding interviews on social media platforms for professionals. In a Wednesday night post on LinkedIn, Vistara said that it is hiring pilots and cabin crew. Interviews for pilots — A320 line captains and first officers — are being held online on Thursday. For hiring cabin crew, Vistara is holding walk-in interviews in Delhi and Mumbai on Thursday and Friday.

The two Tata group airlines are in the process of getting merged into a larger full-service carrier that will retain the Air India brand. Air India in February placed the largest-ever aircraft order of 470 planes collectively from Airbus and Boeing and is looking to step up the hiring of pilots and cabin crew. In February, Air India said that it planned to hire 900 pilots and 4,200 cabin crew trainees in 2023, and further step up hiring of pilots going forward.

Air India’s drive to step up the hiring of pilots also comes at a time when it is facing resistance from unions of its existing pilots over revised pay contracts.

Following Go First’s insolvency plea, a large number of the airline’s employees, who were already suffering due to delayed salaries, are approaching other Indian carriers for jobs. Although the Go First management has come out and said that the promoters — Wadia group — are committed to the airline and the insolvency plea was aimed at its revival, industry insiders believe that Go First might not take to the skies again anytime soon.

Cash-strapped Go First Tuesday announced that it was filing for voluntary insolvency proceedings with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), blaming engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (P&W) for its financial situation. The airline said that it was “forced to apply to the NCLT” after “the ever-increasing number of failing engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney’s International Aero Engines” led to the grounding of 25 aircraft, or half its fleet of Airbus A320neo planes, and significant financial stress.

Go First said P&W, which is the exclusive supplier of engines for A320neos, had failed to meet contractual obligations and refused to comply with an arbitration award from the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). It added that more likely engine failures over the next three-four months would have made its operations “unviable”.