Cebu Pacific is continuously hiring flight attendants. AirAsia recently held a cabin crew walk-in interview and on-the-spot hiring. PAL Express is holding a cabin crew open day on June 24 and 25. Royal Air is hiring flight attendants. You might be wondering why our local airlines are hiring more flight attendants simultaneously and just days apart from one another.
Also, it so happened that everything happened in June. Well of course we have all waited for this after the last two years were filled with too much uncertainty. However, some continue to wonder if the growth of these airlines is this quick.
Well, there are two reasons. First is what we call an uptick in air travel demand due to “revenge travel”. Second, many of our local flight attendants are moving to an international airline within the next few days and months.
The sudden rise in air travel demand
The primary reason why our local airlines are hiring more flight attendants is due to the sudden uptick or increase in air travel demand. This is brought about by “revenge traveling”, or the need to travel once again after two years of being on lock-down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The easing of travel restrictions has gotten more passengers to travel, particularly in the domestic sector. Cebu Pacific and AirAsia Philippines have also been holding seat sales, spurring a sudden shoot-up in forward-bookings. As such, airlines needed to increase capacity by adding more frequencies and destinations.
In a study by IATA, it was said domestic travel will recover faster than international, which is happening now in the Philippines.
Adding more frequencies and increasing capacity entail hiring more flight crew such as flight attendants. Our three major local airlines are also reopening their hubs outside Metro Manila such as Cebu and Clark. The reopening of these hubs will need more flight attendants based in those areas.
Many current flight attendants from local carriers are moving to foreign carriers
Just last April and May, Qatar Airways held a series of cabin crew hiring events in Manila. The airline is expected to increase capacity by threefold or more in the next few months due to the FIFA World Cup 2022 happening in Qatar. Being a global and much-awaited event, it is expected that foreign travelers to and from Qatar will drastically increase, hence, the need for more cabin crew.
Also, Qatar Airways continues to build up its pre-pandemic capacity and route network.
According to unconfirmed sources, the airline hired more than 800 soon-to-be Qatar Airways flight attendants in the past few months alone. These include a mix of present cabin crew from our local airlines, newbies or those without any experience, and ex-cabin crew.
Qatar Airways is also the most desired foreign airline to work for amongst aspirants and present cabin crew. So who wouldn’t want to take advantage of this.
These newly hired cabin crew will be deployed in the next few weeks to months, and quite a number of them are present cabin crew from the local airlines.
As our local airlines continue to build their capacity, the lack of cabin crew may cause flight disruptions which may lead to flight cancellations and losses. In anticipation that a number of the local cabin crew will be moving to Doha anytime soon, these airlines have to fill in the gap to avert the possibility of flight disruptions due to a lack of cabin crew. Hence, the need to stage more flight attendant hiring events all in a month.
Another airline now hiring flight attendants from the Philippines is Oman Air. However, this is limited to females only, as of this writing.
The opportunity to make more cabin crew dreams come true
Is this good? Well for as long as we do not experience flight disruptions due to cabin crew shortage, it is. Why? It opens the opportunity to those who have always wanted to become a cabin crew for our local airlines. Also, more retrenched cabin crew are being recalled back to work.
With more flight attendants on the line and being taken in, our local airlines will be able to continue its expansion, with the end-goal of surpassing the pre-pandemic capacity. At the same time, they get to provide more jobs not only for cabin crew, but also for pilots, ground staff, aircraft engineers, and ramp agents.
At the end of the day, more opportunities to become a cabin crew are being opened. For our aspirants, it is an answered prayer, especially after the last two years. For those who were retrenched, it is now time to fly again.
First love never dies. I fell in love with airplanes and aviation when I was a kid. My dream was to become a pilot, but destiny led me to another path: to be an aviation digital media content creator and a small business owner. My passion for aviation inspires me to bring you quality content through my website and social accounts. Aviation is indeed in my blood and blog!
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