Do you live in or around Birmingham and would like to kick off or continue a career in aviation? Well, a brand new UK-based airline is looking for new cabin crew members to join the company.

Hans Airways: a new hybrid carrier connecting the UK with India

Hans Airways (ICAO - GKS) is the UK's latest hybrid long-haul airline whose mission is to offer an air bridge between the UK and India. Based at Birmingham Airport (BHX), the carrier is now looking for new cabin crew members to join the company.

The airline stated it plans to recruit around 20 cabin crew to be able to commence services to Northern India. However, it must be borne in mind that the carrier is at the dawn of its history. On August 31st, Hans Airways performed its formal route-proving flight for the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The flight was operated by G-KJAS, an Airbus 330-200. The flight and cabin crew were led by the airline's Chief Operating Officer, Captain Nathan Burkitt, and Cabin Safety and Service Manager, Neeru Prabhakar.

Hans Airways CAA test flight
Photo: Hans Airways

The previous day, on August 30th, Hans Airways CEO and founder, Satnam Saini, welcomed 55 people, made up of family, friends, and airline partners, for a familiarization flight. The flight took off from Birmingham airport and touched down at Glasgow Prestwick (PIK). The flight then continued to Doncaster (DSA) before returning to Prestwick and Birmingham.

Hans Airways' next steps

Hans Airways is planning on getting everything ready to commence operations within October, thus becoming the UK's third scheduled long-haul carrier offering tickets between the UK and India.

Before starting commercial revenue operations, Hans Airways will need to be awarded the UK's Air Operator Certificate (AOC). Additionally, the carrier will apply to India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the license to fly to the Asian country. If everything goes according to the airline's plans, Hans Airways expects to start services to Amritsar (ATQ) from Birmingham this month. However, before the carrier can begin to enact its plans, the 20 new cabin crew members must be selected.

Hans Airways cabin crew recruitment
Photo: Hans Airways

Hans Airways plans a four-times-weekly service to Amritsar, a significant commercial and cultural center in the heart of Punjab. Therefore, the carrier has stated that knowledge of the Punjabi and Hindi languages will be a plus for those applying for the role of cabin crew. Until Hans Airways has finalized slots and timetables, it plans to operate ACMI or charter services, thus giving its cabin crew the chance to familiarize itself with the aircraft before starting scheduled services to India.

How fierce will the competition be for Hans Airways?

India is a crucial market for the UK. According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), in 2019, 38 million seats (one-way) were deployed from the UK to international destinations, excluding Europe. Of these, one million were bound for India.

Considering Hans Airways's focus route from Birmingham to Amritsar, the carrier will compete head-to-head with India's national carrier, Air India (AI), which, between October and December 2022, will deploy 53,957,376 seats on this route. Additionally, the Indian carrier recently announced a strengthening of its presence in the UK. However, Air India and Hans Airways run two different business models tailored for two different mixes of traffic; Air India is a full-service carrier (FSC), while Hans Airways places itself as a hybrid, long-haul budget airline.

Air India Boeing 777
Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying

Simple Flying reached out to Hans Airways for further comment. We will update the article with any additional announcements from the airline.

Do you think Hans Airways will thrive in connecting Birmingham to Northern India? And, in case you'll apply to become one of its cabin crew, best of luck from all of us at Simple Flying!