Indigo will recruit more than 1,000 pilots, know why this step was taken

Updated: 14-02-2026, 10.11 AM

What is the news?

Veteran airline IndiGo is going to run a large-scale recruitment drive, under which it will appoint more than 1,000 pilots. The new recruits will include Trainee First Officers, Senior First Officers and Commanders. The recruitment notice shows that the airline is ready to accept applicants even with no experience on the Airbus A320, the flagship aircraft of its network. This step is being taken after the massive disruption in its operations in December 2025.

These shortcomings were revealed in the investigation

A review conducted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) concluded that the airline neither recruited in line with the new rules nor increased its training capacity. The investigation also found that this led to increased workload on pilots due to frequent transfers, longer tenures and crew members being taken as passengers to operate flights to other locations.

promotion

Company is promoting first officers

Economic Times IndiGo is now ensuring continuous supply of cockpit crew to keep pace with the increasing number of aircraft, a senior official told PTI. The airline’s internal system is currently promoting approximately 20-25 first officers to the rank of captain per month. Now along with recruitment, the airline has also started making changes in its network planning to provide more relief in daily operations.

The problem came due to lack of pilots

DGCA’s basic requirement is 3 pilots per aircraft, including a captain and a first officer, but due to IndiGo’s high utilization levels the requirement is more than double this. Data presented during the investigation into the incident in December last year revealed that the airline required 2,422 captains, while it had only 2,357. Due to this, its operations were disrupted and 5,000 flights had to be cancelled.