No stopping Emirates as it plans to add 700 pilots

Is there no stopping Emirates? Just over a year after the global financial crisis dashed the Dubai dream, and with network carriers around the world battling losses, the region's biggest airline has in recent weeks announced record net profits of $964 million, an order for 32 more Airbus A380s and plans to hire 700 pilots and 3,000 cabin crew over the next 18 months.

Emirates' performance over the past 12 months has been gravity-defying. With new routes and more to be added this year, its weekly departures from Dubai International are up more than a tenth to 1,118 from June 2009.

The economic crunch caused a relative blip in Emirates' relentless recruitment last year - in the 12 months to 31 March 2009 it took on just 140 pilots. "We didn't need them but we honoured their contracts," says Capt Alan Stealey, Emirates divisional senior vice-president flight operations. Now the airline is almost back to 2007-08 hiring levels and the tempo is increasing.

© Richard Sowersby/Rex Features

"This financial year has been a year of two halves," he says, referring to the period to 31 March 2010. "In the second half we saw a pronounced recovery, we used our backlog of pilots up and now we are recruiting at full pace for the current year."

Current pilot numbers are 2,282, of which 1,127 are captains. With up to 45 pilots needed every month, Emirates is stepping up its recruitment efforts with a target of talking to 32 individuals a week.

The airline recently held a recruitment roadshow in Madrid - to which it will launch services in August - and Stealey says pilots from recently failed or downsizing airlines, including Flyglobespan and SAS, are providing a pool of potential recruits.

As with every Gulf employer, providing careers for nationals is a priority. With 38 captains, 116 first officers and 36 cadet pilots from the airline's UAE citizens-only training programme, Emiratis account for 8% of flightcrew. With a further 142 students going through an ab initio programme, locals should fill some of the recruitment gap.

Emirates currently only recruits first officers, regardless of experience, with minimum requirements being 4,000h of which 2,000h must be multi-engine. However, despite a seniority list, promotion tends to be rapid.

"Some will have been captains already, but we can offer brand new widebodies including the possibility of flying the A380, international routes and you still get to upgrade to command here quicker than almost anywhere in the world," says Stealey.

Emirates is keen to sell Dubai as well as the airline itself to potential pilot recruits. "We invite everyone here for interview, paid by us," says Alison Ward, vice president human resources. "It's easier to do it here, but we also want them to see where they will be making their home."

Although occasionally pilots choose to commute, Emirates prefers them to relocate to Dubai. "We are trying to pick people who will adapt," she says.

Despite Emirates' need for flightcrew - the attrition rate is only 2% - only about half of all interviewees are taken on. As well as a simulator assessment, applicants are also tested on their crew resource management skills and given a psychometric check. "Pure piloting skills are important but it's only part of the story," says Stealey. "We are looking for a particular type. Someone who will work in a multicultural environment."

Pilots who do join Emirates are particularly well looked after. When they and their families first arrive at the airport they are collected and taken to their accommodation, with the services of an induction officer to help them settle. Single or married pilots are given an apartment; those with children get a villa. Both can be furnished and water and electricity is paid up to a certain level. Emirates provides a car loan and a driver takes pilots to and from work. "The company tries to look after everything they need," says Ward.

Although they do not get quite the same package, Emirates' 11,000 cabin crew are also taken care of while they live in Dubai, with en suite bedroom in shared apartments. Although Emirates does not own accommodation, Dubai's property slump has ensured a steady supply. "Landlords are still knocking on our doors," says Ward. "We're in a privileged position."

With the business a quarter of a century old, and the retirement age recently raised from 60 to 65, some of Emirates' captains are veterans of the airline. "We have several who have been here since we were founded," says Stealey. "Boy, did they get it right when they joined." In a turbulent airline industry, stability is still one of the biggest pluses Emirates offers, he maintains. "In 25 years we have never, ever laid a pilot off."

Source: Flight International