While many young Indians are mad about Bollywood film stars, 20-year-old Mune Byaling has a rather unusual hero: stylish liquor-to-aviation tycoon Vijay Mallya. "He's different. He's like a rock star - daring, fascinating, focused," said the university student, enamoured by the attractive flight attendants that Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines is known for.
That is why Byaling is among the thousands of glamour-struck youngsters who are signing up for expensive training schools in a scramble to become flight attendants. Growing air travel in India and the opening up of the aviation sector in the 1990s have led to a surge in demand for airline staff.
Industry estimates and experts put the number of cabin crew needed in the next three years at between 15,000 and 20,000 - a tiny number in a country of 1.1 billion people. With supply far outstripping demand for well-paid airline jobs, cabin crew training schools have sprouted across India, luring aspirants with glossy adverts with often white-skinned models and a promise of job placements. Many airlines dismiss them as commercial ventures out to exploit aspirants from small towns, but their growth story continues.
The largest, Frankfinn Institute, has expanded from a single branch four years ago to 79 now, along with 30 information offices in remote areas, and plans to spread in South Asia, the Middle East and South Africa. It has about 15,000 students on its rolls and charges about 2,850 dollars a year - nearly as much as many private medical and engineering schools do - to impart non-academic and non-technical training.
"Most of these people would never make it. You can't groom people lacking in social skills with two-hour classes," said Vijaya Lukose, head of in-flight services at Air Deccan and author of "10 Steps to Become an Air Hostess." "They are just money-making shops."
Lukose's warning comes despite a deal between cash-strapped budget carrier Air Deccan and Frankfinn under which the airline will hire its annual intake of nearly 400 new employees only from the institute. Staff at Frankfinn admit that many of its 15,000 students will not make it as flight attendants. "The retail industry is booming. Our students have a lot of opportunities as store and service managers," said personality development trainer Sangeeta Singh.
For generations, educated middle-class Indians have wanted their children to become doctors and engineers - which till now remained among the most coveted professions. But as the economy expands and foreign investment pours in, jobs with airlines, hotels, in retail, entertainment, and call centres have started to provide lucrative alternatives for millions of youngsters keen to make easy money.
A flight attendant without a degree earns 25,000 rupees (610 dollars) a month with an Indian airline, while a majority of graduates - except those from top engineering and business universities - would earn between 5,000 and 10,000 rupees. With annual per capita income in India around 800 dollars, airline salaries offer young people from small rural towns a rare chance to join the middle class and afford homes, cars and other goods.
But there is a steep learning curve as few of the students understand phone etiquette, concepts such as customer service or exactly how a credit card works, let alone how to attend to the needs of demanding passengers on a jumbo jet. A major focus, therefore, at cabin crew training institutes such as Avalon, Air Hostess Academy and Flying Cats, is on grooming.
"The growth is driven by people from small towns and even villages. We have students here whose parents are from a rural background, or are farmers," said Samir Valia, vice president of corporate communications at Frankfinn. Students at the flight attendant training school said they were unfazed by the competition. "There is a rush for jobs in every field. And there is no future in outsourcing jobs," Stuti Singh said.
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