As the Covid pandemic is slowing down, the Indian aviation sector is returning to normalcy at a rapid pace with more people travelling by air within the county. Hopes are that it would recruit in large numbers. However, not all jobs that existed pre-Covid will be there, but at the same time, new jobs are in the offing.

The industry, which used to employ over 20 lakhs before the pandemic, will be a lot thinner by becoming technology-savvy as contactless and low-touch passenger experience will be the future. This means, several jobs will be redundant and the industry will become lean and agile.

The passenger experience will become a more contactless and socially-distant one. “Jobs that were previously in place to assist passengers with check-ins, boarding, de-boarding and baggage claim will most likely be made redundant,” said R Ramanathan, CEO, AISATS, a 50:50 joint venture between Air India Limited and Singapore-based SATS Ltd.

Contactless experience

Most aviation stakeholders are keen to provide a contactless and low-touch passenger experience through the use of biometrics, automation, artificial intelligence and robotics. This has increased the scope for tech jobs like DevOps engineers, product designers, quality assurance engineers and IT analysts to help support this new socially-distant airport environment and help the industry become more responsive, agile and financially sustainable post the pandemic, he said.

“We expect the aviation industry to hire young, innovative workers who can harness the knowledge gained from science, technology, math and engineering into commercially-viable business models to make air travel more sustainable,” he said. The industry will focus on hiring multi-skilled workers who have the flexibility to adapt to unforeseen or unexpected circumstances (such as the current pandemic) to ensure business continuity, he added.

Engineering jobs

Sanjay Shetty, Director-Professional Search & Selection, and Strategic Accounts, Randstad India, an HR company, said that there has been an uptick in hiring across key positions like aircraft maintenance engineers, sales & data analysts, customer experience automation experts, safety technology engineers and cockpit design engineers. There is also traction in the Maintenance, Repair and Overhauling sector.

“The sentiment is definitely positive. Since the demand from the customer’s end continues to be volatile, we can expect this quarter to give the necessary push to the sector to be able to operate at pre-covid levels by 2022,” he said.

Aviation expert B Govindarajan of Tirwin Consultancy said that though there is huge optimism about the accelerated post-Covid-19 recovery of air transport, total jobs in the industry could be down by 25-30 per cent when compared to pre-covid levels.

‘New employment opportunities’

Hiring as seen in the context of a paradigm shift towards contactless customer services and reduced in-flight services just to meet the mandated safety requirements, jobs related to in-flight services also may not see any significant additions. However, the general aviation business of non-scheduled and private operators picked up because of Covid travel restrictions is expected to create new employment opportunities, he added.

Ajoy Thomas, Business Head (Retail, E-Commerce, Logistics & Transportation) of recruitment firm TeamLease Services, said from aircraft and avionics equipment mechanics and technicians to air traffic controllers, commercial pilots, aerospace engineers and flight attendants, the aviation sector has a variety of jobs that are counted as some of the highest-paid jobs.

Technology might transform the customer experience at the airport, however, the human interaction with the ground staff at the check-in and gate agents will continue to remain an essential piece of the process of seamlessly delivering an enjoyable experience throughout the entire passenger journey, he said.

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