Air India announces big salary hike for pilots, cabin crew

Air India on Monday said it has revamped the compensation structure for pilots and cabin crew, including increasing the per-hour flying rate for pilots.Under the new structure, part of the Tata Group-owned airline's five-year transformation plan, salaries will be hiked for more than 2,700 pilots across Air India and AIX Connect (including Air Asia India and Air India Express) as well as for more than 5,600 of Air India's cabin crew, said a source.

"We are pleased to announce a revision in the compensation of flying staff with effect from April 1, 2023. We have redesigned the compensation of flying staff to make our compensation structure simplified," according to an internal circular. Following the revision, the guaranteed flying allowance component has been doubled from the current 20 hours to 40 hours. However, it remained much lower compared to the pre-pandemic period when Air India pilots were entitled to a guaranteed 70 hours of flying.One year CTC of a trainee pilot now stands at Rs 50,000 while a senior commander will earn Rs 8.50 lakh per month.Similarly, the salary of a fresh cabin crew has been pegged at Rs 25,000 per month, whereas the cabin executive will get Rs 78,000 per month, according to the circular. There will also be additional compensation for pilots undergoing training for command upgrade and conversion training for the time spent in-ground and simulator training, the source said.Further, Air India has also hiked the pilots' per-hour flying and flying allowance rates.