Air India’s pilots’ numerical strength will cross 2,000 by May this year when the recruitment exercise gets completed, the source reportedly said."At the same time, we will also be phasing out some old classic A320s from the fleet.Type rating is a regulating agencies’ certification given to a pilot to fly a certain aircraft type that requires additional training, which involves huge cost, beyond the scope of the initial license and aircraft class training. Of these, 72 pilots operating the narrow-body Airbus A320 family fleet have resigned, while 38 pilots each of Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Boeing 777, eight of Boeing 747 and 17 of Boeing 737 fleet have quit between 2012 and October this year, civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had reportedly said during the Winter Session of Parliament.In what is expected to be one of the largest-ever pilot recruitment drives, government-owned national carrier Air India will hire over 500 type-rated pilots on contract basis for the carrier’s narrow-body fleet, even as the national carrier has decided to ask pilots joining it to sign a bond and submit a bank guarantee totalling Rs 1 crore, which will be encashed if a pilot decides to quit the airline before the expiry of his contract, according to news agency reports.At present, Air India has 1,441 pilots, with 670 of them flying 66 A320 family aircraft."We will be inducting 29 more A320s including 14 A320neos between April this year and March 2018.The national carrier’s narrow-body fleet is expected to grow to about 80 aircraft by March, 2018. We expect our overall narrow body (A320 family) fleet to stand at around 75-80 aircraft by the end of March 2018," the source was further quoted as saying. In addition to this, Air India would soon float tenders for leasing of 15 A320s to augment capacity. Besides, another 70 pilots are under training.As many as 173 Air India pilots have resigned from the national carrier since 2012, with the maximum being those operating the narrow body Airbus A320 family aircraft, the government had reportedly said in Parliament recently.01 lakh per pilot while the type rating cost per pilot comes to nearly Rs 23 lakh. The present streng-th of the narrow-body fleet is 66. In line with this induction programme, we are recruiting 534 type-rated pilots as well on a China marine cooling equipment Suppliers contract basis," an Air India source was quoted as saying. At present, the cost of training a pilot for an Airbus family of planes stands at Rs 4. "The new pilots joining Air India will have to sign a bond and submit bank guarantee totalling Rs 1 crore, which will be encashed if a pilot decides to quit the airline before the expiry of his contract," a source was quoted as telling news agency PTI.The national carrier has added 66 A320 family aircraft in its fleet besides Boeing planes..Air India has reportedly tweaked hiring norms after a number of pilots quit the carrier and moved to private airlines after acquiring high-cost type-rated training at its expenses, sources were cited as saying. It has already tied up with a Kuwaiti aircraft lessor to lease 14 A320neos, which are to be delivered by March, 2017. The fresh hiring of 534 Airbus A320 pilots is in line with Air India’s aircraft induction plans and aimed at overcoming the shortage which has many times led to cancellation of its flights at the last minute, a source was cited as saying