With an expectation to return to 100% of operations and network capacity by next year, Emirates has launched an enormous recruitment drive to strengthen its cabin crew workforce as it is calling for applicants with:

"A personality that shines, the ability to adapt to any situation and make people feel at ease."

Ramping up recruitment

This is the second post-pandemic recruitment drive that the Dubai-based carrier has launched, with the first round launched back in August. The goal was to hire 3,000 cabin crew and 500 airport service staff back then.

The number has since doubled during this recruitment drive, as Emirates is looking for many more crew members this month, as well as pilots, engineering specialists, and ground staff, as confirmed by the airline:

"As we focus on recovery and further ramp up our operations, we are accelerating our recruitment drive with the objective to hire roughly 6,000 cabin crew positions during this financial year, from April 2022 to March 2023."

Interested applicants would have to be willing to be based in Dubai and meet the UAE's employment visa requirements. Additionally, more than a year's experience in hospitality and customer service and being a high-school graduate is also a requirement of Emirates.

Overwhelming responses

Emirates has already had a massive pool of candidates applying to strengthen its workforce. In all, the airline has received more than 300,000 applications for the cabin crew jobs alone.

What's more, the airline is confident of even more applications pouring in for other positions, having mentioned:

“Since we launched our cabin crew recruitment drive in August 2021, we have received more than 300,000 applications from all over the world, demonstrating the tremendous level of interest in this role and in Dubai’s growing reputation as one of the best cities to live and work.”

Once selected from the candidate pool, successful applicants will go through weeks of rigorous training at Dubai's Emirates Aviation College before their flying careers can commence.

To ensure they are exposed to various operations, they will also be assigned to medium, long-haul, and shorter turnaround flights across the Gulf carrier's 130-destination network onboard the Airbus A380s and the Boeing 777s.

Signs of positive recovery

Emirates is ramping up recruitment to embrace the bounce-back of demand within the aviation industry. Currently, the airline is operating at approximately 70% of its 2019 levels, and is expecting capacity to rise past 80% by the beginning of its winter schedule in November.

Even better, the airline is foreseeing a vital return to profit in the next fiscal year as it sees signs of recovery in terms of seat factor and demand. Emirates' Chief Operating Officer Adnan Kazim said:

"Next year will be a “milestone” in terms of getting back to the level of operations where the airline had left it before the coronavirus pandemic. The focus remains on recovering the Emirates’ network and capacity, which will be the core. For us, next year will be the year of full recovery — 100%. That’s what we aim for.”

Bottom line

Emirates is undoubtedly trending in the right direction with two recruitment drives and many applications received. There's such a satisfying feeling of hearing airlines carrying out massive recruitment drives like this one, giving a fuller sense of hope knowing that the climbing trend in hiring back airline staff is significantly positive news for the industry.

Source: The National News