Airhostess academies:
ground reality
Anisha Ralhan

With wings of ambition, fly high, when the sky is not the limit but a beginning.”

Promising a safe landing into the future, today more than 250 airhostess training institutes all over the country claim to provide a soaring career in aviation and hospitality. But with such dream jobs coming at a hefty cost, do these training institutes really deliver?

‘Enrolling oneself in an airhostess training institute helps a job seeker in the industry, since the student is groomed by expert faculty, familiarised with the aviation infrastructure. All this acts as a boon for those who are not born confident and smart,” claims K.S Kohli, chairman of Frankfinn Institute.

“Just like an IAS aspirant enrolls himself in the best of coaching institutes and an engineering student seeks professional guidance while appearing for entrance tests, our institute provides rigorous training to groom the personalities of raw students,” he adds.

The institute claims to be the sole one providing the international vocational qualification of B.Tech HNC among the airhostess training institutes along with job assistance for 18 months after the completion of the course.

On the other hand, institutes like the Air Hostess Academy (AHA) claim to provide placements with reputed national and international airlines like Air Sahara, Air Canada, British Airways, and Jet Airways, offering a two-year and one-year diploma course in Aviation and Hospitality Management.

“The selection of the students for the academy is done carefully and each batch is limited to a manageable number. The students are gauged on the basis of their lifestyles, levels of responsiveness, communication skills and past experiences, if any. Only those with a positive attitude and perseverance are taken in. Once enrolled, the candidates are trained rigorously to ensure that the industry gets the best talent,” says a spokesperson for AHA.

Seeing the hefty fee demanded by these institutes that are mushrooming in every nook and corner of the cities, it is important for students to carefully examine the placement records and quality of qualification offered by them. “There have been many cases of cheating filed against airhostess institutes which do not comply with the ‘100 per cent refundable fee’ claims they make in advertisements,” says Kohli.

The students studying at these institutes, on their part, have mixed views on this. “Joining the two-year diploma course in the academy has been quite a waste, the staff is non-serious and placement assistance is just a gimmick. Even the selection procedure is faulty; everyone appearing in the written test is selected, no matter how she performs. It pricks to have paid over a lakh and not having gained anything worthwhile,” says a student at a leading institute.

“In the last three batches of my institute branch, nobody, except one girl, has got a placement with any airline,” she claims.

“The training offered in these institutes is not in tune with the training undertaken for airlines. So, the value of the course is nil. I have friends who have had training from these institutes but are still unable to land a job in the industry. Ultimately, it’s your personality and innate confidence which counts, either you have it or you don’t,” points out Dimple Madnani, Airhostess, Jet Airways.

“In fact, some airlines prefer to have freshers over the ones possessing such certificates as they are considered to be naturally smart and fit for the job rather than making them fit for the job.”

On the other side, Adiba Siddiqui feels her training at an institute has made her confident and patient, providing the right grooming required for the job. She attributes her career in Gulf Air to the institute.

“The course has helped me to gain more confidence and a vivacious personality, I was quite an introvert before. This course has helped in social skills and interaction with passengers,” says an airhostess with Jet Airways.

So, what does it take to become an airhostess?

“Airlines are constantly on the lookout for high calibre, confident candidates with excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Maturity, positive attitude and a focus on service are other desired traits. Some basic criteria are a minimum age of 21 at the time of application, a minimum arm reach of 212 cm (on tip toes), education till at least high school and medical fitness to meet aircrew requirements,” says a spokesperson for Emirates Airlines, which provides on-the-job training to selected candidates at the Emirates Aviation College in Dubai.

“While recruiting the cabin crew it is not important whether the candidate possesses a certificate or diploma, as long as the candidate meets the required criteria by the airline,” she adds.

Airlines basically seek candidates who fit in their eligibility template, which comprises physical parameters along with a warm presentable personality. Besides, the airlines feel, many of the training institutes tend to compromise on the quality of students, in order to mint money.

“The objective of the recruiters for the airline is often not on a par with the objective of the training institutes. While airlines insist on quality crew, the institutes are interested in luring more and more students in order to make some money. Thus, the student intake from the institutes is quite low,” says Surajit Banerjee, Vice President, HR, Spice Jet Airways.

“We have an intake of 10-15 per cent of cabin crew from the training institutes,” he mentions.

A piece of advice he gives to the institutes: “They need to be selective while giving admissions to the students.” He feels a certificate from a training institute acts as an added qualification for the candidate as it helps at the time of on- the-job training provided by the airline.

So, to have the money, glamour and travel on your side, it’s important to take off on the journey sensibly, keeping in mind lots of things before choosing an institute.

“It’s not only about tying saris” She is the head of Air-India’s airhostesses. She often accompanies the Prime Minister when he travels abroad, ensuring that he and his entourage get the best service on board . A.J.Philip chats up M. Chikliwala, the woman who trains the new airhostesses of the national carrier. M. Chikliwala Excerpts: “There has been a great demand for airhostesses as more and more airlines are going in for fleet expansion. Recently, Air-India recruited a large number of airhostesses after a long time. This is in view of its massive expansion plan, for which it has given orders for 68 Boeing aircraft of different specifications. “Airhostess academies are not equipped to train aspirants. For one thing, they do not have access to aircraft. For another, the safety systems vary from one aircraft to another. They, at best, train them in wearing saris properly. “The training we impart is quite exhaustive. We train them in conversing with people who come from all strata of society, including business magnates and political leaders. Our airhostesses know the difference between the wines from France and Cuba, for instance. They have a good knowledge of European, East Asian and Indian cuisine. “Training is not a one-time affair in Air-India. Every time we acquire a new aircraft, our airhostesses are trained in handling the aircraft. We flew into Seattle a group of airhostesses and stewards to acquaint them with the safety systems and the in-flight entertainment system in the new Boeing 777-200LR Air-India bought before it was ferried to India. “Most airlines prefer women for on-board services. While the job of an airhostess is considered glamorous, there is little realisation that it involves backbreaking work.”