Skilled blue-collar workers fly to work sites as infrastructure boom narrows class divide

Bengaluru: Love Kush, a 19-year-old construction worker from Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, is fiddling with his smartphone onboard the aircraft from Delhi to Bengaluru, only the second time he is travelling by air, as he looks forward to report for duty.

Used to travelling either by train or by road, Kush's story is a reflection of a part of a quiet transformation in India's economy -- where demand for specialised blue-collar skills has grown so acute that companies now fly workers across the country, a shift that is eroding traditional class boundaries.

The son of a farmer who dropped out after Class 8, Kush has worked with AKG Shuttering for a year, earning Rs 15,000 (USD 178) monthly.

His specialised shuttering skills -- critical for India's construction boom -- have made him valuable enough that his employer pays for flights and accommodation to deploy him at sites nationwide.

The trend reflects broader changes in Asia's third-largest economy, where infrastructure spending and rapid urbanisation have created acute shortages of skilled labour. Construction workers who once travelled in packed train compartments now sit alongside office workers on flights, smartphones in hand.

Kush was accompanied by nine colleagues, all first-time flyers heading to a project site where they will work for three to three-and-a-half months.

The PTI journalist was seated next to Kush on board the flight to Bengaluru.

Their confidence was evident, but so was their unfamiliarity with air travel protocols.

"Earlier, we used to travel by train. This is my first flight journey. It's a great feeling to travel by flight," said Ashok Deep Sharma, also a farmer's son, from West Bengal's Dakshin Dinajpur district.

The workers' inexperience showed in small moments. When a flight attendant offered refreshments, one spoke so softly she couldn't hear. "Sir please jorse boliye, mujhe kuch sunai nahi de raha (Sir, please speak louder, I can't hear you)," she said in Hindi.

Another worker declined the complimentary meal, apparently thinking he would have to pay. The attendant explained gently in Hindi, "Sir, apko pay nahi karna hai, free hai (Sir, you don't have to pay, it's free)."

Yet in other ways, these young Gen-Z workers mirrored their fellow passengers. They carried smartphones loaded with downloaded content -- one watched Bhojpuri movie "Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki" during the flight. As the plane descended, colleagues queued to hand their phones to Kush, who had the window seat, asking him to film the clouds and aerial city views.

Kush, who struggled with boarding procedures on his first trip to Hyderabad in January 2025, has become the group's guide. "This time, I did not face any problem. I helped my colleagues who are first-time flight travellers," he said.

The transformation extends beyond individual stories. Industry executives say the willingness to fly workers reflects both the shortage of skilled labour and the economic calculus that lost work time from slower train travel costs more than air tickets.

After disembarking, the workers photographed themselves in front of the aircraft before heading to their site -- a small but significant moment in India's evolving economic landscape, where specialised skills increasingly command the mobility and benefits once reserved for white-collar workers.