(Commonwealth Union) – Starting in the pandemic the airline industry was the first one to take the biggest hit. Since there was no travel involved for the year of 2020 airlines could not catch a break anywhere and ticket sales dropped to almost nothing.
Now everyone knows that air travel is one of the most expensive ways to travel and when travelling abroad, if it included air travel, then the trip was planned months ahead and money saved so that there would be enough to have a good holiday. Travel has become a way of life for the younger generations and there were a significant number of young people taking time off to do soul searching in different countries. The airline industry pre-pandemic was booming to the point that there was amazing ticket deals that were even promoted on social media platforms so that people would spend more and travel to see the world.
Now prior to COVID-19 this was fantastic, since all parties involved were either making money or memories. Come 2020, the global health crisis triggers lockdowns and border closures. Many if not all countries banned air travel and the entrance to their countries unless it was for the flying of medication or vaccine cargo from one port to another. This meant that airlines were losing out in billions that helped them keep their doors open and their people employed.
Many airlines started a mass culling of their staff. By mid-2020 a significant number of airline personnel had lost their jobs due to the pandemic. The loss of their jobs had nothing to do with their job performance whatsoever and this was made clear by the documentation they got. Of course, the airlines stated that if things ever went back to normal, they would of course be hiring and giving their jobs back. However, this promise at the time looked like a distant dream.
It was in the beginning of 2021 that countries decided that tourism was important globally to keep almost ever industry door open. This meant that there would have to be some kind of traveling. In the start of tourism travel or any kind of air travel where there was crossing of the borders there were very strict regulations that passengers had to follow. If all these boxes were not checked then of course the person in question was put on the next flight back home. People who really did want to travel adhered to the rules and the industry slowly was getting back on its feet. Which meant that airlines now had to think about getting a few more staff as the work load was getting a little heavier for the skeletal staff that the airlines were left with.
The first airline that made the announcement they would be hiring was not a national carrier but a budget carrier which was AirAsia. Now AirAsia whilst not a national carrier is still a budget carrier which meant people were starting their holidays on budget travels. Air Asia saw a hike in their sales and their air crafts being full and soon came to the realization that they needed to get more staff in to handle the work load as the customers were paying for a certain level of comfort and they had to be given that comfort.
The travel came in a steady stream but the holiday travel started with domestic and budget airlines. These airlines were the first to start recruiting the staff they let off earlier on. This meant that the staff that were laid off and did not or had not found work was given the option of coming back but of course there would be changes made and they would have to adapt to it.
These changes were that they had to wear masks whilst flying, get regular PCR and antigen tests done apart from their other regular medical tests. There would be a significant change in rosters as well. The crew would be on strict schedules and changes had to be made when the rosters were being made and unlike pre-COVID, when one could not make changes on a whim and fancy as that would mean that there would be a delay in getting a crew member to cover that flight.
With travel slowly picking up more countries began laxing their rules for tourist to enter their country. Which meant that now travel was becoming easier to do. National carriers were also getting more business and have now looked into getting their staff numbers up. It was British Airways that started hiring first. As promised, they reached out to their old staff first and gave them the opportunity to come back to their jobs. This recruitment drive went pretty well for British Airways as almost 70% of their old staff came back.
With British Airways starting their recruitment drive other carriers followed suit on a small scale, bringing back their previous staff who were laid off. Then in 2022 all restrictions were removed by almost every country for tourist and almost returned to 100% pre-pandemic travel.
This meant that airlines now went on massive recruitment drives so that they could give the passengers the best experience. It has been noted that the recruitment phase of these airlines has gone well. The crews are now more versatile which means that there are crew members from all over the world. This makes the flight a multi-cultural experience.
Middle Eastern airlines are famous for having multi-cultural crews. Emirates and Qatar Airways have always had multi national crews which then means you have flight crews that can speak multiple languages and are aware of many cultures. This makes the experience better for travellers as they feel comfortable. There have been reviews where people have commented that flying in an airline that have multi national staff makes the flight better as there is always a chance that one of the crew members speaks a passenger’s mother tongue.
So, we see that airlines have started recruitment drives all over the world and if one were to fulfill the requirements set by the individual carriers then they are in the chances of getting hired. This means that one should look out for hiring advertisements from airline if they are interested in a career in that sector.
