Foreign carriers eye Indian talent for cabin crew

Foreign airlines spreading their wings in India are dipping into the local talent pool for cabin crew, at a time of abundant skilled professionals and growing outbound travel sentiment among Indian travellers.

While upcoming airline Riyadh Air has started hiring from India, Turkish Airlines is set to induct Indian talent under its first recruitment drive in the country for cabin crew. Saudia has also stated its intent to have more Indian employees in its aircraft, as it plans to expand services in the world's fastest growing aviation market.

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“We have started the process of recruiting cabin crew in India. This is our maiden recruitment drive here and we are hopeful of conducting more such drives in the future as we see India as an important market for us. While cabin crew are rotated across flights, a set of Indian talent will help us in facilitating a better customer engagement on the aircraft which are carrying a large number of Indian travellers,” Erkan Erdogan, general manager for northern & eastern India at Turkish Airlines said.

As per data from Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Turkish Airlines carried 130,732 passengers to and from India in the March quarter of 2024, or more than 1.3% share of the total traffic carried by the foreign carriers operating in the country.

Riyadh Air eyes India

Saudi Arabia’s upcoming airline Riyadh Air, which expects to launch commercial flight operations next year, expects to utilize the Indian talent pool as it sees Indian aviation market as an important segment for its international expansion. The airline aims to launch operations to India within the first 12 months of its launch.

“India will be a significant opportunity for us and it will be important for us to partner with a large Indian carrier as well. We look for the right people with the right experience. For aviation workforce, we are looking at both gender diversity as well as nationality. We have firmed up plans to conduct a recruitment drive for cabin crew in India. We will conduct more such drives here as we launch operations,” Adam Boukadida, chief financial officer at Riyadh Air said.

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Industry executives said the closure of two major airlines -- Jet Airways and Go Air—in less than five years has also resulted in availability of skilled aviation talent in India, who can be attracted with better renumeration packages.

“South Asia is a large supplier of the workforce in Saudi Arabia like it is in other parts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). We get a lot of resumes from India, and there is a belief that there are two happening aviation markets - India and Saudi Arabia. So, there are a lot of Indian airline professionals who are saying, may be we can look at Saudi Arabia. Not just us, others such as Riyadh Air and Flynas are also getting the resumes,” Sanjiv Kapoor, executive vice president-strategies, Saudia Group told Mint earlier.

Saudia carried 373,220 passengers to and from India in the March quarter, and occupied nearly 4% share in the total traffic carried by foreign carriers to and from India of 9.2 million passengers.

A strategic move

"We see this trend as a strategic move driven by multiple factors," said Pragya Priyadarshini, vice-president at Primus Partners. "India's aviation and hospitality sector employs over 500,000 skilled individuals, providing a rich talent pool for international airlines. This trend also responds to India's expanding outbound travel market, with over 65 departing and arriving international passengers in FY24. Hiring Indian cabin crew creates a culturally resonant environment for these passengers, potentially a means of boosting customer loyalty. The multilingual capabilities of Indian crew are particularly valuable, given India's linguistic diversity with over 20 official languages."

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"In addition, while not the primary driver, India's competitive wages are also an important reason, allowing airlines to optimize costs while maintaining service quality. This together reflects both India's skilled workforce and its growing importance in global aviation," Priyadarshini said.

Foreign airlines have been tapping Indian talent for many years, said Dhriti Prasanna Mahanta, vice-president & business head, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship. "Emirates has also been hiring for many roles from India and other countries as well. Because of an evolved industry, skilled workforce availability, infrastructure created by the government through different initiatives, we have been able to create a talent pool required not only in India, but also globally. India's brand as a productive workforce is also really working in all spaces which are growing including aviation," Mahanta added.