Emirates is ramping up its cabin crew recruiting as it prepares to take delivery of its first A380 in August. Its Aviation College will begin accepting A380 personnel to its crew training program in early June. EK plans to have 24 cabin staff onboard a normal 489-seat A380, and it will need about six complete crews for every aircraft.
There will be 158 employees trained for the first four A380s scheduled to arrive and they will be selected from current 777 and A330/A340 staff, Senior VP-Service Delivery Terry Daly told ATWOnline in Dubai.
In all, 90 new flight attendants join EK each week and the carrier employs 9,200 cabin staff from 116 countries. "Four years ago, the number of cabin crew was around 4,000. By 2012-13 we will have a total of 18,000," Daly said. The carrier is sending recruiters throughout its worldwide network to hire more staff. He said just 5% of applicants eventually are hired.
EK has invested AED248 million ($67.5 million) in its crew training program, not including flight simulators. It was launched last year.
