As UAE’s airline job hires, salaries soar, aviation training is turning into big business

As UAE’s airline job hires, salaries soar, aviation training is turning into big business

Dubai: In the UAE, airlines are recruiting like never before - pilots, cabin crew, engineers, IT personnel. Name any position and chances are an airline will be busy filling it up with the right candidate. Or more of them.

And salaries too are soaring, as airline report record travel demand through summer.

“If cabin crew positions offered Dh8,000 in 2019, full-service carriers now offer salaries ranging from Dh9,000-Dh10,500,” said Dr Sathya Menon, CEO of Blue Ocean Corporation, comparing 2019 wage levels to now.

In 2019, low-cost carriers were offering Dh6,000, but today that’s Dh8,000. - Dr Sathya Menon

This demand for trained/skilled personnel for airlines and support businesses will not run dry any time soon. Gulf-based airlines are into their own hiring spree, notably in Saudi Arabia.

All of which is creating a boom time for aviation training opportunities in the UAE and Gulf.

Australia’s pilot training group, Ansett Aviation Training, opened a new facility in Dubai earlier this year. Mark Delany, CEO of Ansett Aviation Training, said the company is looking to provide pilot training services for aircraft operators not only from the Middle East but Africa and Asia. In Saudi Arabia, the Prince Sultan Aviation Academy ordered six additional simulators to grow their training