The aviation industry is set to order over a thousand new aircrafts which would make India the second largest buyer of commercial planes in the world. Such a big order will leave the country only behind the US and China in aviation markets. With the current order at 1080 aircrafts, the growth in traffic would put increased pressure on airport operators as well as the government to quickly strengthen the infrastructure by adding additional runways, terminals, increasing ground staff, developing shopping and tourist areas in and around the airports, and other supporting infrastructure. 

The Prime Minister made air travel accessible to all by taking it out of its elitist club and by launching the Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) regional connectivity scheme with its first flight at a subsidized fare of Rs. 2,036 between Shimla and New Delhi. In addition to the UDAN scheme, as of July of this year, India became the second-largest domestic aviation market in the world after China and Mumbai airport beats London's Gatwick to become the world's second busiest airport with a single runway.

The UDAN scheme is going to benefit the aviation industry as well by close connectivity in terms of accessibility and reach the common man. The introduction of 200 new airports as announced recently by the central government is going to require a skilled workforce for its smooth operations. These new initiatives are going to help tier 2 and tier 3 cities to fast track their respective infra. 

Airlines and airport Chief Information Officers (CIOs), including India, are turning to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support their customer service, a new report said on Thursday. It is estimated that over the next couple of years, 52 percent of airlines plan major Artificial Intelligence programmes with 45 percent of airports are to invest in research and development in the next five years. According to the communications and IT solution provider SITA, airlines are also looking to use technology to minimize the impact of disruption on the passenger experience and their businesses.

Airport operations staff, aviation retail staff and even the coveted cabin crew jobs will now need youngsters to fill these opportunities. We believe being bi-lingual is soon going to become a necessity for airlines to service the UDAN customer. And this in-turn will fulfil several thousands of aspirations. The country is at a cusp where, quite literally, a lot of job prospects will allow every individual to reach the sky. 

These initiatives to revolutionize the aviation industry are skyrocketing, but for this to be pragmatic, the support of manpower is crucial. This not just creates enormous employment opportunities, but it essentially requires a skilled workforce for it to be successful.The potential for growth is high, the level of skill required to fill this gap is low. There is an urgent requirement to up-skill to maintain India's position amongst the top 3 aviation markets in the world. Language proficiency aside, knowledge of accounts, finance at the ground level, understanding customer services, and key revenue generating/sales tasks associated with keeping the airline afloat will be critical.