Emirates airline to hire 5,000 crew as Airbus A350 deliveries start in summer

Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, is preparing to hire 5,000 cabin crew this year as it prepares to take delivery of its new fleet of Airbus A350 wide-body aircraft this summer and Boeing 777X planes in 2025.

The airline is seeking to hire new graduates with internships or part-time jobs on their CVs and those with about a year of hospitality or customer service experience, it said.

Emirates’ recruitment team will host open days and assessments in more than 460 cities across six continents this year.

“The recruitment drive is designed primarily for those who will soon or have recently stepped into the world of work,” Emirates said.

Last year, the airline hired 8,000 cabin crew and held recruitment events in 353 cities as it boosted services to meet a boom in travel after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The airline’s cabin crew numbers currently stand at 21,500, with the new recruits set to boost that figure by 25 per cent.

The airline also ordered 110 additional Airbus and Boeing wide-body aircraft for a total value of $58 billion at list prices during the Dubai Airshow in November.

The airline’s hiring spree comes at a time when it expects travel demand to remain strong and as it monitors headwinds facing the aviation industry after posting record profits in the first half of its financial year.

“For the second half of 2023 to 2024, we expect customer demand across our business divisions to remain healthy and we will stay agile in how we deploy our resources in this dynamic marketplace,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group, said in November.

The airline posted a record first-half profit in its current financial year as it ramped up capacity to meet strong international travel demand. Its profit stood at Dh9.4 billion ($2.5 billion) in the April to September period, up 135 per cent from the same period last year, on a boost in passenger numbers.

Emirates is scheduled to host its open day events in the Armenian capital Yerevan, Bruges in Belgium, Paris, the Spanish city of Bilboa, Antalya in Turkey and London today. More cities and dates are listed on its website for the remainder of this month and February.

The airline is also holding invite-only recruitment events where candidates are required to complete applications online to be selected to attend.