IndiGo courts rival pilots as flight chaos sparks talent war

But industry executives and pilots said it may not be easy for IndiGo to persuade pilots at rival airlines to switch amid concerns the company’s troubles are over, as the government has launched an investigation into the debacle and vowed to take action.

Moreover, the war on pilots is set to intensify as Tata Group-owned rival Air India is advertising its recruitment drive at a time when IndiGo is desperately trying to hire pilots.

“Last weekend, Air India pilots received calls from IndiGo and some of these pilots were junior officers. There are hefty joining bonuses on offer, but given the long notice periods and turmoil at IndiGo, one cannot be sure how many will take action,” said a senior aviation industry official aware of the calls to Air India pilots.

IndiGo’s search for pilots began after the airline, which has a more than 60% share of the domestic aviation market, canceled nearly 4,000 flights in the first week of December, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at major airport hubs.

India’s aviation industry consists of a two-horse race dominated by IndiGo and a distant second, Air India, with a market share of around 27%. Struggler SpiceJet and upstart Akasa Air are only small players.

IndiGo has an ambitious hiring plan aimed at tackling pilot shortages, fueled by the government’s 2024 rules aimed at ensuring flying safety by giving pilots more time to rest and recover. InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which operates IndiGo, said in its notification submitted to aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last week that it aims to recruit 158 ​​pilots by February 10 and 742 pilots by December next year. Mint He reviewed IndiGo’s submissions to the DGCA.

However, industry executives say that recruiting these 900 pilots will be a difficult task.

“Around September, around 40 pilots resigned due to the cadre system. Some of them joined international airlines, especially those in the Middle East. Now, if IndiGo brings in pilots from outside with higher salaries, it will widen the gap between pilots working for the airline,” said a former IndiGo pilot.

According to the airline’s FY25 annual report, it had 5,456 pilots, including first officers and captains.

Pilot shortage linked to new tenure rules

IndiGo has been accused of failing to plan and hire adequate staff in compliance with the new flight duty time limits (FDTL) norms, leading to a shortage of legally rested pilots and leading to unprecedented aviation chaos. DGCA gave months to airlines to prepare for the gradual implementation of the new norms starting from July 2025, and planned the final phase for November.

Meanwhile, Air India, which will be one of IndiGo’s most important poaching grounds, published an advertisement on December 8 stating that it is recruiting pilots for its A320 and B737 fleet. Here ‘A’ and ‘B’ represent Airbus and Boeing; two different types of aircraft that require specialized training and whose skill sets are not easily interchangeable.

Therefore, the target pool of IndiGo, which mainly has Airbus aircraft, is shrinking.

Air India had earlier announced that it would establish a pilot training school in Amravati, Maharashtra, where 180 candidates are admitted annually. The school is expected to become operational next year. The airline will also install 10 Airbus simulators at its Gurugram facility, two of which are already operational. Again, 11 more simulators will be installed at the Gurugram facility in partnership with Boeing. The airline also has affiliations with two pilot training schools in the US.

IndiGo has a separate student training program.

Queries sent to IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa Air remained unanswered.

For Air India Group’s low-cost carrier Air India Express, which has a predominantly Boeing fleet, the threat from IndiGo will be minimal. Another pilot said on condition of anonymity: “Usually an Airbus A320 family pilot cannot automatically fly a Boeing aircraft in India (or anywhere) without specific training and certification for the aircraft type as the control systems of the two OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are different.”

Pilot cross-training from Boeing to Airbus is expensive because of the high cost of conversion training, industry executives say.

Even for the rest of Air India’s fleet, which includes Airbus, pilots are unlikely to make the switch in a hurry. “Ex-Vistara or not, Air India pilots have settled in and their pay scales are not much different from IndiGo,” said a senior official at a smaller airline that hired a batch of IndiGo pilots last month.

A report by InCred Equities on December 6 said that an IndiGo pilot flew an average of 571 hours in FY24, while Tata-run Air India Group flew 471 hours. The industry average is 453 hours (ex-IndiGo). Average pilot salary stabilized at Air India Group ₹64 lakh in FY24, slightly lower ₹66 lakh per annum for IndiGo, according to a note by InCred Equities. Former IndiGo’s industry average is: ₹62 lakhs.

Pilots typically have a notice period of 6-9 months and therefore vacancies cannot be filled quickly. The senior airline official mentioned above pointed out that IndiGo may step up promotions to fill vacant captain positions. “Due to poaching wars in the aviation industry, airlines other than Air India and Indigo have become very particular about notice periods. In some cases, they have threatened to file lawsuits if pilots leave suddenly.”

Murlidhar Mohol, minister of state for civil aviation, told the Rajya Sabha on December 8 that Air India has 6,350 pilots, IndiGo has 5,085, Air India Express 1,592, Akasa Air 466, SpiceJet 385 and Alliance Air 111 pilots.

An Air India official said: Mint I think the growth opportunities for a pilot in Air India are much better. “Pilots have a chance to switch to wide-body flights for both Boeing and Airbus. It is a much more lucrative offer. Also, there is less flying time making the overall offer of sticking with Air India more lucrative,” this official said.

Meanwhile, in a rare regulatory intervention, the DGCA rolled back IndiGo’s extended winter schedule, cutting 5% of its confirmed daily departures and handing over these slots to rival airlines. In an order on Tuesday, the DGCA asked IndiGo to revise its winter schedule and reduce the number of flights by 5%, including high-frequency, high-demand routes. The airline must submit revised flight plans by 5pm on Wednesday.