Emirates expands recovery recruitment drive to pilots and engineers

Middle Eastern carrier Emirates is aiming to recruit a further 2,500 personnel over the next six months to ensure it has the resources necessary to maintain its recovery track. It is supplementing a previous drive, unveiled in September, to take 3,000 cabin crew and 500 ground-services staff. Emirates says it will expand it requirement by recruiting 600 pilots, plus 1,200 engineering staff and another 700 ground workers. The Dubai-based carrier says it is bracing for a “surge” in customer demand “sooner than expected”. Emirates has rebuilt about 90% of its network – and aims to have 70% of pre-crisis capacity in place by the end of this year – and the airline is re-introducing higher-capacity aircraft types and increased frequencies. “With the positive signs in the economic recovery and continuous growth of demand, we are hopeful to be back to where we were pre-pandemic, from mid-2022,” says Emirates Group chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum. He says the airline has been “prudently” resuming services as international restrictions lift. Dubai, he adds, is experiencing a “quick recovery” and that this underpins the recruitment drive. The carrier has started redeploying Airbus A380s to ply its more popular routes, supporting its fleet of Boeing 777-300ERs – all of which are in service, either for passenger or cargo services. Emirates will increase the number of A380 destinations from 18 to 27 by the end of November.<br/>