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UAE carriers to hire 80,000 staff

13 July 2010

The UAE's two largest airlines are planning to hire 80,000 pilots, cabin crew and other staff over the next decade as they continue to expand services across the globe, it was reported on Sunday.

“It took us 25 years to get to 40,000 employees, but in the next 10 years we will double that to 80,000,” said Rick Helliwell, the vice president of recruitment at Emirates in comments published by UAE daily The National.

Factoring in current employees who retire or move on, Emirates will require more than 60,000 new employees over the decade, including 2,500 pilots and 20,000 cabin crew, Helliwell told the paper.

In Abu Dhabi, Etihad is already one of the largest employers, with about 8,000 staff. By 2020, when all of its planes have been delivered, it should have 27,000 employees, the paper added.

The extra staff will be needed to operate hundreds of new aircraft that are on order with the number expected to increase this month with orders at the Farnborough International Airshow.

Emirates Group will double in size by 2020 to a fleet of about 300 aircraft, from 149 today, the paper said.

Etihad’s fleet plans include six new aircraft arriving next year, four in 2012, six in 2013, and 12 in 2014.

Last month, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Middle Eastern carriers were expected to post a profit of $100 million this year – their first since 2005.

The predictions are significantly better than IATA’s forecast figures, which indicated that regional carriers would lose $400 million this year. Local carriers posted a $600 million loss last year.

IATA said that the better outlook for the Middle East was partly due to regional GDP growth of 4.3 percent outstripping the global average.

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