Delays plague Air India, government directs it to hire 800 cabin crew members


Aviation secretary V Somasundaran has directed Air India to immediately hire 800 cabin crew members. The directive comes as AI has been facing serious flight delays caused, among other reasons, by a crippling cabin crew shortage. 

"The secretary recently directed us to start hiring, cabin crew. We will now follow the IT industry example where we will have an ample number of airhostesses, all of whom may not fly at the same time. They would be benched like the IT industry and called in to fly when needed. The cost of flight delays due to a shortage of cabin crew is way higher than the expenditure incurred on hiring more," a senior AI official said. 


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