Dubai: Etihad Airways will nearly triple its Emirati workforce over the next four years, with plans to hire 5,000 nationals by 2020, the Abu Dhabi-based airline said on Wednesday.
Etihad currently employs more than 3,000 Emiratis after hiring 1,200 nationals in 2015, it said in a statement, adding that it “plans to employ a further 5,000 Emirati employees by 2020.”
This would be a 166 per cent increase on 3,000 nationals presently working at the airline.
James Hogan, Etihad president and chief executive, said in a statement that the airline has been a “driving force” in the country’s nationalisation programme.
In the United Arab Emirates there is a nationalisation policy called “Emiratisation” that favours hiring nationals in a bid to increase their presence in the private sector.
Emiratis are a minority in the UAE, where the population is dominated by expatriate workers.
Etihad also said it employs an equal number Emirati men and women across its business, with Emiratis working as pilots, engineers, cargo ramp managers, medicine specialists and in management.
Etihad employs 26,566 staff globally, an airline spokesperson told Gulf News.
