New Delhi: Air India will be hiring 700 employees to expand its cabin crew capacity. The hiring will be inclusive of both trainees and experienced staff. Air India has 3,200 cabin crew members at present. The carrier is working on expanding domestic operations as well by connecting small towns to the bigger ones using smaller aircraft and might revive the dead Vayudhoot. The airline proposes to connect 50 locations across the country and take up domestic and international services. The planning calls for bigger cabin crew strength. The expansion could possibly be because of the induction of four low-cost wing of the airline Air India Express which will require around 74 cabin crew members.“The need to hire emerged after we saw a shortage of crew. We will also need a lot of people for our expansion plans, with Delhi airport becoming our hub,” said an Air India official. Major Airlines like Kingfisher and Jet Airways have seen around 500 cabin crew members leaving the job in the past and even they hired some 150 cabin crew members each in last one year. "Cabin crew training in India is among the best in the world. Many international carriers, especially West Asian, hire cabin crew at a hefty pay, leading to a shortage," said an executive with a full-service carrier. The carrier lost Rs 5,551 crore in 2009-10. The carrier wants to freeze pay hikes and promotions for its 31,000 employees over the next three years. It has an annual wage bill of 3,100 crore and will see as many as 2,600 employees retire by 2014.