Hong Kong Airlines to hire 1,000 new pilots, cabin crew, ground staff in 2023

Hong Kong Airlines will hire 1,000 new employees across pilot, cabin crew, and ground staff roles by the end of 2023, stating that the “rapid recovery of air travel demand in sight”.

According to a statement released by Hong Kong Airlines on January 12, 2023, the carrier plans to operate around 75% of its pre-pandemic capacity by the end of the year. The Hong Kong-based carrier also estimated a return to 100% of pre-pandemic capacity levels by mid-2024.

The outlook also took into account China reopening the border to international air travel, which “will definitely be the next market to contribute significantly to [the airline’s, ed.-] travel recovery efforts,” Hong Kong Airlines chairman Hou Wei said.

“We have leveraged every travel recovery opportunity over the past few months amidst unprecedented pent-up demand, and we continue to see positive business growth, particularly from the Japanese markets,” Hou Wei added.

“The carrier expects to increase its flight operations to 30 sectors per day by January 2023, reaching 30% of those at pre-pandemic levels; flying to 15 regional destinations including Tokyo, Osaka, Okinawa, Sapporo, Seoul, Bangkok, Manila, Hanoi, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, and Haikou, which is 50% of the operation level before the pandemic,” Hong Kong Airlines explained.

The company said it will need around 120 flight crew, 500 cabin crew, and 380 ground crew members.