Dubai: UAE airlines are back to hiring, with Air Arabia and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi joining Emirates and Etihad Airways in wanting more personnel as more services return to the skies. For Air Arabia, the recruitments come as it prepares to launch a national airline in Armenia – Fly Arna – by late May.
Not just pilots and cabin crew, the new positions being hired include those for back-office positions. Analysts said the UAE airlines are making ‘replacement hires’ to keep their organizations running smoothly and that it would take a while for new jobs to be created. “Organizations in most parts of the world lost some amount of staff and they need to hire for those positions,” said Mark Martin, CEO of Martin Consulting, an aviation industry focussed firm.
Emirates and Etihad have already gone through the process in recent months, with the Dubai airline taking in pilots and cabin crew as well as support staff. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad last October went on a major cabin crew recruitment drive as it network started getting busy.
Air Arabia
Sharjah’s low-cost carrier has posted several job roles on the social media platform Linkedin. The only Middle East airline to report a profit in 2020 is launching in Armenia through a joint venture. During a media briefing earlier this month, Air Arabia CEO Adel Al Ali said that more than 100 employees would be needed with the deployment of each new airplane.
“The more airplanes you bring, the more places you will fly to and more people will need to recruit – it’s a moving number that will continue to grow very fast.”
For now, the airline has posted vacancies for a customer relations manager, a codeshare and alliance support executive, a paralegal, rotables controller, manager – propulsion and a ‘key account’ executive.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi
UAE’s newest national airline – also flying in the budget space - is slowly but stadily expanding its routes and regional operations. With that comes the need to take in fresh hires to fuel this growth. The latest positions being advertised are for a post holder crew training manager, cabin crew training manager and an office assistant.
Abu Dhabi Aviation
The largest commercial helicopter operator in the Middle East is on the lookout for a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer as well as aircraft maintenance assistant.
Airbus too
Not just local carriers and aviation companies, the European aircraft maker Airbus is also into workforce expansion as the industry gears up for a full return to recovery from the pandemic and its multiple variants.
Last week, the European plane-maker announced its plan to recruit around 6,000 new employees across the entire group as the company looks to decarbonize where possible. “Airbus has demonstrated resilience throughout the Covid crisis, and has laid the foundations for a bold future for sustainable aviation,” said Thierry Baril, Airbus Chief Human Resources & Workplace Officer, in a statement.
“This can only be achieved by acquiring the right talents in the various domains of expertise that will help us grow our activities as we come out of the crisis, while preparing the long-term transformation of the company.
“Following this initial wave of recruitment, which will take place worldwide and across all our businesses, the number of external hires will be reassessed before mid-year 2022 and we will adjust our needs accordingly.”
