Dubai-based Emirates airline will be hiring more than 4,500 personnel to fill a wide range of vacancies across all continents in the next fiscal year, starting from April 1, 2012.

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Alison Ward, Vice-President of Recruitment at Emirates, told Emirates 24l7 that the Arab world’s largest carrier will add 450 pilots and around 4,000 cabin crew in the next fiscal year.

“Emirates is planning to recruit approximately 450 pilots in the upcoming fiscal year, this is in addition to our recruitment of 570 pilots last year. We also need around 4,000 cabin crew in the next fiscal year; plus hundreds of operational staff as well,” Ward said.

The carrier said recently that so far in 2012 alone, the airline has recruited cabin crew talent in US states including Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington DC and will be holding an open day in Seattle in March. Emirates will be holding pilot recruitment drives in Atlanta and New York over the coming months.

Emirates airline recently held open days in the UAE and will hold more open days in the UAE and other countries in the coming yeas to fill a wide range of vacancies including engineering, airport operations, cabin crew and IT.

“Emirates holds open days for a variety of positions throughout the year on a monthly basis; most regularly are open days for pilots, cabin crew and engineering roles.

"However, Emirates also holds recruitment events for other positions such as airport operations and IT, as needed. Candidates interested in any role with Emirates or Dnata are encouraged to look at its website for the latest information about recruitment events and positions available across the Group,” Ward told Emirates24l7.

Ward said Emirates has held several recruitment events for both UAE nationals and expatriates.

“With our headquarters based in Dubai, the majority of our roles are also located here. Recently Emirates has conducted road shows for Emirati high school graduates across the UAE for operational roles such as pilots, cabin crew, engineering and airport services.

Additionally, we have hosted open days for cabin crew roles and staff for the new Concourse 3 at Dubai International Airport which were open to all nationalities. Emirates will continue to recruit and employ staff in the UAE to support the airline’s continued growth.”

The Dubai-based carrier announced in the last fiscal year that it would hire 4,000 personnel. When asked if these are in addition to the numbers announced in the previous year, Ward said: “The figure for the number of cabin crew needed has remained relatively the same year over year due to the fact that Emirates is continually receiving additional aircraft.

"Approximately 35 new aircraft will be added to the fleet this year and Emirates will need additional cabin crew to support these aircraft, just as it did last year. Emirates successfully met its cabin crew recruitment goals last year and looks forward to another positive recruitment year.”

The Emirates fleet has grown to 162 aircraft with another $55 billion on order, carrying more than 30 million passengers in its last fiscal year to a network now spanning 122 cities. The airline posted a profit of Dh5.46 billion ($1.49 billion) in the year to March 31, 2011.

Emirates’ profit in the first half of current fiscal year ended on September 30, 2011 plunged 76 per cent as fuel costs surged by $1 billion.

Approximately 35 aircraft will be added to the fleet by Emirates in this fiscal year which relates to around 2-4 aircraft each month (Boeing and Airbus together) with one per month being an A380.

“We do not have specific targets for certain countries but instead look to hire qualified candidates who can meet Emirates high level of safety and standards.

"One change to Emirates pilot recruitment this year is that we will be hiring experienced pilot into captain roles within the organisation. Previously, all pilots, regardless of experience and qualifications, joined in the First Officer roles.

However, due to the aircraft joining the fleet this year and our estimated increased need for flight crew, Emirates has opened up recruitment to captain roles and it has met with great success,” Ward said.

In November last year, Dubai Duty Free announced that it would recruit

1,000 personnel in 2012 for the launch of its outlets at Dubai Airports’ third concourse.