Airline hiring to lift off this year

Industry

Published: 31 Jan. 2018, 20:43

Airline hiring to lift off this year

Korea’s airlines will hire more than 3,500 workers this year as they move to serve an ever rising numbers of air passengers, industry sources said Wednesday.

Korean Air said it would recruit more than 1,000 new workers, noting that it would fly 17 new planes this year. The flag carrier said it accepted 1,050 new employees last year, including 600 cabin crew members, 200 pilots and 250 technicians and office workers.

Korean Air plans to add 17 new planes - nine CS300 short-haul planes as well as four B787-9s and four B777-300ER long-range jets - to its fleet this year.

Its joint venture with Delta Airlines, which is awaiting approval from authorities, will allow the airline to serve more cities in the United States and Asia.

Asiana Airlines said it would employ up to 500 new workers this year, including 250 cabin crew members, 100 pilots and 150 office workers and technicians.

Asiana Airlines said it would fly two more A350s this year with the aim of launching new routes to Venice in April and Barcelona, Spain, in August.

The country’s six low-cost carriers - Jin Air, Jeju Air, Air Busan, Air Seoul, Eastar Jet and T’way Air - also have plans to increase hiring.

Jeju Air said it would employ 600 to 700 employees this year as it adds five B737-800s.

Jin Air said it would fly three or four more B737-800s this year while employing 400 new workers.

T’way Air and Eastar Jet are moving to add 400 and 200 more workers this year.

Air Busan also plans to add several more airplanes and employ 300 new workers in 2018.

Air Seoul said it has not yet fixed the number of new recruits but expects to employ 150 new workers.

“Adding one more flight requires the employment of a number of additional staff,” an industry source said. “We are recruiting new workers in advance as we need a lot of time to train pilots and cabin crew before they can start work.”

Yonhap