With domestic traffic growing at over 20% and competition in the full service carrier segment heating up, Jet Airways has decided to increase the utilisation of Boeing 737 aircraft that are used for flights within India and to neighbouring countries. For this, the airline will hire 400 pilots in the next 18 months so that it has the manpower required to sweat its assets optimally. In the past few months, Jet and several other Indian airlines had seen a sizeable number of their pilots go to IndiGo and Gulf carriers. To check further exodus, Jet has given an average 10% salary hike to pilots recently. Jet currently has a fleet of 116 planes. Last November, it ordered 75 B-737 MAX-8 aircraft. This order includes conversions of 25 next-generation 737s to 737 MAX 8s, as well as s options and purchase rights for additional 50 aircraft. <br/>