Emirates: It's jobs galore in UAE’s aviation sector as it takes off at an exponential pace post-Covid-19 period on the back of strong demand for international traffic with UAE airlines hiring throughout this year.

The UAE’s carriers have been on a hiring spree over the last couple of quarters, led by Emirates, flydubai, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia.

Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates has announced that its recruitment team would scour 30 cities across six continents including Europe, the Middle East and Australia in May and June in order to expand its workforce that represents 160 nationalities. It aims to expand its operational staff by 6,000.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has also announced that it will host a major recruitment drive to hire up to 1,000 individuals with hospitality experience to join the airline’s cabin crew as the aviation sector recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The massive recruitment drive comes in the wake of airlines shrinking their workforce in 2020 after the outbreak of the pandemic. However, budget carrier flydubai retained most of its workforce even during the pandemic.

As the Covid-19-driven restrictions have been largely eased, airlines are expanding their network with the delivery of the new aircraft.

The latest data available on the UAE airlines’ careers sections showed that around 300 vacancies were available on June 1, 2022, for different positions such as cabin crew, pilots, finance officers, aircraft mechanics, IT and sales executives among others.

“The proactive steps we took at the start of the pandemic enabled flydubai to retain the majority of its workforce and quickly ramp up its operations as soon as travel restrictions began to ease across the flydubai network. We introduced different voluntary and extended leave schemes which were well received by our employees, more than 90 per cent of those who opted for the scheme have since returned to the workforce,” said Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive officer at flydubai.

The budget carrier, according to Al Ghaith, has taken delivery of four new aircraft which has seen its fleet of Boeing 737s growing to 63 aircraft.

“We will take delivery of 18 more aircraft over the next few months, this will support our expanding network which will grow to 100 destinations over the summer,” added Al Ghaith.

To support this growth trajectory, flydubai's CEO said the airline is currently undergoing a recruitment drive to add more talented professionals to its workforce and this includes pilots, cabin crew and various positions across the business. “Since the start of the year, we have grown our workforce by 25 per cent. More than 800 skilled professionals have been recruited as pilots, cabin crew, engineers and in other positions. Our recruitment drive will continue throughout the year,” he added.

Flydubai's chief said the airline is well positioned to continue its growth path and accommodate the increase in demand for travel across the network as it heads towards full recovery.

Similarly, Emirates airline has also seen a strong response as it has received over 300,000 applications from all over the world since its cabin crew recruitment drive in August 2021.

“We continue to recruit crew and other operational roles, in addition to IT roles to ensure we have the right reinforcements to support our ramp-up of operations,” said Emirates spokesperson.

With Etihad Airways’ operations ramping up for a busy summer season and new Airbus A350s entering the fleet, the Abu Dhabi-based airline is recruiting for roles across the business in 2022.

“Etihad is currently looking for talented people to join our team as cabin crew, pilots, finance specialists, software engineers and more… Etihad Airways offers a competitive benefits package for cabin crew that not only includes modern accommodation and travel allowances, but the opportunity to learn and grow, see the world and be part of an internationally-recognised and award-winning team,” said Etihad spokesperson.