Jobs growth hinges on aviation growth

Jet Airways is set to resume domestic operations in the first quarter of 2022. Jet Airways 2.0 aims at restarting domestic operations by Q1-2022, and short haul international operations by Q3/Q4 2022. The airline would have a fleet of more than 50 aircraft in 3 years and over 100 in 5 years. The airline has also started its hiring activities as India's private carrier gets closer to be back on the skies. It has started hiring professionals and looks to on-board them soon.

Akasa Air, backed by Big Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, is slated to start operations next year. The airline is planning to have a fleet of 70 planes over the next four years. The airline said it plans to offer flights across India starting in the summer of 2022.

As Go First, Spice Jet, Vistara and Air India ramp up operations, there are likely to be a lot of hiring of aviation personnel in tandem to match growth.

Boeing said late last year the world will need 7,63,000 new pilots by 2039, even if Covid-19 had temporarily put a brake on traffic growth. Some are hiring again, trying to play catchup in markets experiencing a rebound.

Air traffic is gradually moving towards pre-pandemic levels and airlines operating at full capacity, hiring in the aviation sector continues to be slow with recovery only up to 18-20 per cent. Experts noted that the pace of hiring in the sector lags that of other segments where employment numbers are rising.

The current trends show hiring in the sector is selective and bent towards the technical side—ground maintenance and IT infrastructure. According to reports, the Airports Authority of India is planning to develop at least 100 airports by 2024 under the regional air connectivity scheme.

The opening up of new airports in smaller towns, a further extension in vaccine coverage and improvement in travel sentiment will drive the demand for jobs and hiring in the aviation sector.

Hiring sentiment in the travel industry has witnessed a gradual uptick this quarter after the initial contraction and job losses in the beginning of this year. He added that an increase in passenger traffic due to the restoration of 100 per cent seat capacity and privatisation in the sector should increase job opportunities across positions like pilots, cabin crew, engineers, customer service and ground handling.

The aviation sector is growing fast and will continue to grow. The most recent estimates suggest that demand for air transport will increase by an average of 4.3 per cent per annum over the next 20 years.

If this growth path is achieved by 2036 the air transport industry will then contribute 15.5 million in direct jobs and $1.5 trillion of GDP to the world economy. Once the impacts of global tourism are taken into account, these numbers could rise to 97.8 million jobs and $5.7 trillion in GDP.