Global aviation giant Emirates is on a hiring binge — and many of the 17,300 people it wants to recruit around the world in 350 roles will be South Africans.
The recruitment drive, announced in July, is a ray of light in a gloomy jobs picture in South Africa, where several multinationals have recently begun laying off hundreds of staff.
This week the airline conducted recruitment roadshows in Cape Town and Johannesburg for IT specialists to join its “comprehensive training and development programmes.”
Afzal Parambil, Emirates’ manager for Southern Africa, told Business Times that most of the new hires in Africa will be from South Africa, because the country was an important transit hub for the airline.
Parambil said Emirates was trying “to improve our local content” in South Africa.
“We have over 700 cabin crew recently recruited from South Africa.”
Joburg is a hub for Southern Africa ... Our intention is to work with our partners to promote South Africa as a transit hub, a gateway for the region
— Afzal Parambil, Emirates’ manager for Southern Africa
The airline already had more than 300 South African pilots, and more were likely to taken on to support the Emirates expansion plan.
“We have recruitment campaigns [in South Africa] happening as we speak. As we grow we need more people from South Africa. We need more South Africans ... We have cabin crew members from South Africa serving you and we also have South African cuisine,” Parambil said.
The Emirates jobs drive is a welcome change from a series of recent blows to employment.
Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa, citing financial constraints, this week announced plans to retrench 680 workers and close plants in Bloemfontein and East London.
Other major companies such as Glencore, Ford South Africa and ArcelorMittal South Africa are also retrenching hundreds of workers due to weak market conditions, the sluggish economy and high operating costs, among other reasons. Goodyear is closing its factory in Kariega, with the loss of 900 jobs.
Emirates this week offered IT specialists in South Africa training in “relevant tools and technologies” and promised them “e-learning, knowledge-sharing sessions, tech talks, hackathons, and a thriving community for coders and tech professionals”.
IT hires could count on support for career growth, participation in international projects and opportunities to work on cutting-edge innovations.
Employment benefits offered by the Dubai-based airline include “a competitive tax-free salary, allowances, medical benefits and bonus eligibility, discounted flight tickets for self, family and friends”.
The company said it was seeking to fill more than 200 “future-focused tech roles” in software engineering, “DevOps” (software development plus IT operations), agile delivery, technical product management, cybersecurity, IT architecture and other fields.
Parambil said South Africa was by far the largest aviation market in the continent and that globally it was “holding a very high position in the top 10 market”.
“The customer mix of South Africa is very unique. We have a good mix of leisure and business. We thought the introduction of the premium economy in Africa must start from South Africa.”
He said the airline supports the City of Johannesburg’s 2040 growth and development strategy, which seeks to foster economic growth and create jobs.
“Joburg is a hub for Southern Africa ... Our intention is to work with our partners to promote South Africa as a transit hub, a gateway for the region.” This would “add value to the economy [and] create jobs for South Africa”, Parambil said.
Emirates was promoting South Africa as one of the top destinations among the 156 that the airline serves.
“We work with Tourism South Africa and jointly do activities and promotions in our network to promote the country as a business and tourist destination,” he said.
Collen Msibi, spokesperson for the department of transport, welcomed the recruitment drive and said South Africa fully supported “International Civil Aviation Organisation initiatives ... to ensure a steady supply of skilled and competent aviation professionals to operate and maintain the future global air transport system”.
Msibi said Emirates was seeking to “develop a skilled technical aviation workforce focusing on several aspects that include youth development and empowerment, especially from previously disadvantaged communities, diversity and inclusion, gender equality, partnerships and collaboration”.
Rashid Alardha, vice-president of commercial operations in Sub-Saharan Africa for Emirates, told Business Times: “We’ve been here [South Africa] since 1995 so we’ve also grown with the market, starting with Johannesburg and moving on to Cape Town and then Durban.”
He said Emirates was promoting South Africa as a destination among travellers in the Gulf region.
“The passenger numbers that we carry here in South Africa in terms of the capacity we offer and the demand we have from South Africa is significant,” Alardha said.
Emirates has 56 flights a week into South Africa and wants to add more.
“South Africa has a lot to offer in terms of tourism, safaris and in terms of business. There’s a big focus on industries in South Africa, whether it is green industries, agriculture or infrastructure,” Alardha said.
He said Emirates has 33 co-share partners that operated in Africa, which helped Emirates to “offer this connectivity out of South Africa”.
“South Africa for us is a regional hub and that feeds into the capacity that we have ... We continue to look at opportunities in the continent.”
Some of the plans involved possible new routes and increasing capacity for certain destinations.
Meanwhile, the airline has introduced a retrofitted Boeing 777 in South Africa. The Boeing, with upgraded cabins, operates daily flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Alardha said “premium economy” seats on these planes were the equivalent of business class on other airlines.
The entire aircraft has been refreshed from nose to tail, setting “new benchmarks for premium in-flight experience”, Emirates boasts.
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