South Korea’s airlines will hire more than 3,500 workers this year as they move to serve ever rising numbers of air passengers, industry sources said Wednesday.(Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s airlines will hire more than 3,500 workers this year as they move to serve ever rising numbers of air passengers, industry sources said Wednesday.
Korean Air Lines Co. said it will recruit more than 1,000 new workers, noting that it will fly 17 new flights this year.
The country’s largest national flag carrier said it accepted 1,050 new workers 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 aircrafts as well as four B787-9 and four B777-300ER long-range jets — to its fleet this year. Moreover, its joint venture with Delta Airlines, which is awaiting approval from authorities, will allow the Korean flag carrier to serve more cities in the United States and Asia.
Asiana Airlines Inc. said it will 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 will fly two more A350s this year with the aim of launching new air routes to Venice in April and Barcelona in August.
The country’s six low-cost carriers — Jin Air, Jeju Air, Air Busan Co., Air Seoul Inc., Eastar Jet and T’way Air Co. — also have plans to increase hiring.
Jeju Air said it will employ 600 to 700 employees this year as it adds five B737-800s.
Jin Air said it will fly three or four more B737-800s this year while employing 400 new workers, with T’way Air Co. and Eastar Jet moving to add 400 and 200 more workers this year, respectively.
Air Busan Co. also plans to add several more airplanes and employ 300 new workers in 2018. Air Seoul Inc. said it has not yet fixed the number of new recruits but expected 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)
