IndiGo has been model of steady inflow of young talent: Group CHRO
IndiGo Group CHRO Sukhjit Pasricha spoke about talent, growth, and AI as the airline, with over 5,000 pilots and 11,000 cabin crew, looks to expand
With over 5,000 pilots and 11,000 cabin crew, IndiGo expects the numbers to nearly double as it looks to expand its fleet over the next five years. In an interview with HT, IndiGo Group CHRO Sukhjit Pasricha spoke about talent, growth, and AI. Edited excerpts:
What strategies is the airline using to attract, develop, and retain talent in a highly competitive industry, especially for roles like pilots and cabin crew?
IndiGo has been a model of a steady inflow of young talent. I will call it a moulding factory, which develops talent. I think this has given us an edge. We have two major training centres in Gurugram and regional centres in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai for hiring people for functions like airport operations, ground handling, and cabin crew. They join us raw from the colleges, just graduates, probably with no experience in aviation. We have a very structured programme that they go through. We just don’t make them aviation-ready, but hone their skills, communication, etc. There’s a lot of focus on every aspect.
For pilots, IndiGo started a cadet programme for the first time in India. We collaborated with flying schools. We develop talent. There is robust manpower and resource planning. A combination of training, structured career paths, and resource planning fuels the growth plans. It is a very methodical process that we follow.
With many Indian pilots drawn to Gulf carriers by tax-free salaries, housing, and education benefits, how is your airline addressing this and attracting experienced talent?
Pilots and engineers are attracted especially to the tax-free Gulf salaries. In the rest of the world, I think, there is a similar tax regime. Gulf airlines definitely offer so-called better living standards in terms of housing benefits and school education, etc. There are a couple of areas we have worked on. Our career progression is very good, as compared to these airlines. We focus a lot on structured training and career progression that we have for engineers and pilots. It tells them that if they stick to IndiGo for X number of years, they have a better chance of becoming a captain or chief maintenance engineer. We can’t match the tax-free salaries there, but there’s a lot of focus on other opportunities that one gets at the airline.
IndiGo aims to double its fleet by 2030. Will the number of pilots and cabin crew also double? And when will the target of 1,000 women pilots be met?
We have 43,000 employees and about 25,000 drivers, loaders, and push-back operators, etc, with our wholly-owned subsidiary Agile. So, about 69,000. Last quarter, we added around 1500 people. But this keeps on adding, depending on the number of planes we have. It is structured according to the planes that we add. For pilots, we have the capacity to add about 800-900 Junior First Officers (JFOs) in a year. Last financial year, I think, we must have done about 700. And for the cabin crew, we have the capacity to train and add up to 1500 (in a year). And cabin crew, we have (trained and added) 1000-1200 (in a year)...we have over 4000 technicians.
Gender diversity definitely is a big thing. There’s an equal opportunity given to everyone. But, yes, there’s a lot of focus on bringing in more and more women. We have DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and 6E Embrace, which focuses on minority communities working in our organisation. Our focus is also on PWDs [persons with disabilities] and LGBT. And we are focusing on all these. We currently have close to 900 women pilots. Last year, in August, we inducted 77 women JFOs on a single day. Close to the end of the year or maybe early next year, we are trying to bring in a batch of another 75 to 80 women pilots. We have, if I’m not wrong, the highest number of women pilots in the world. And we may cross a total of 1,000 women pilots in the airline in a year or two. This is a healthy ratio of women pilots compared to many aviation companies. There’s no compromise in terms of merit, the qualifications, etc.
What prospects do you see for AI in aviation? How is IndiGo using it, and what impact do you expect it to have on the industry?
AI is a big buzzword and reality. And like in every company, IndiGo is also managing this change. And my favourite quote to people internally is that, “If you don’t start using AI, you will not be replaced by AI. You will be replaced by somebody who uses AI. So, you should start using AI.” We will become a lot more productive and efficient using AI. We have some AI in every function. But more importantly, are we making organisations ready for AI? The answer is yes. We are doing boot camps for our leaders, starting with the CEO. All of us have gone through an AI master class. We are involving about 400-500 people, plus directors and above, in the company. We are trying to create digital and AI literacy.
We would still require pilots, cabin crew, and engineers to fly planes. Of course, when we have so many humans working in our company, we will require human-centric leaders. So, maybe some back-end operations. Some roles may be easier to do using technology as compared to what we have been doing so far.
We have not been able to predict how many roles or jobs will be taken away. But in our aviation industry, definitely, it will not be to that extent. There will be some efficiency, as basically ours is a people-centric industry. But still, with these initiatives, we can bring cost efficiencies and operational efficiencies.
