Emirates brings back 100 furloughed pilots per month as planes 70 per cent full

Emirates is bringing back about 70 to 100 furloughed pilots back to work each month, as passenger loads hit 70%, the airline's COO said. A summer surge after a long period of coronavirus restrictions has given the carrier a boost after a difficult year for aviation. Adel Al Redha said passenger load factor has increased to about 70% in recent months, compared with 44% last year. “Almost all of our Boeing 777s pilots are back at work,” he said. “Regarding our A380 pilots, we will start building the numbers up as we put more aircraft back in operation. We are constrained with the number of training sessions that we can hold in our simulator, but we are currently working on bringing in between 70 to 100 pilots per month to re-train.” Earlier this year, the airline resumed flights to 120 destinations, which is close to its pre-pandemic operations. Al Redha said as more countries open up to passengers and governments continue to revise protocols for travel, it will drive much-needed demand.<br/>