The number of Australians employed by the Emirates Group is set to top 5,000 as the airline prepares to open a service centre in Adelaide, Emirates says.
Australians make up the fourth largest national group among the 130 nationalities working as Emirates air crew, according to the carrier. In all, Emirates Airline and Group (including Emirates Airline, Emirates SkyCargo, Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa, Toll dnata, Alpha, Mindpearl and Emirates Leisure Retail) employs some 3,500 people in Australia, while another 1,200 Australians work from the airline’s Dubai hub. That makes Emirates the third largest airline employer of Australians, behind Qantas and Virgin Australia.
Emirates announced plans earlier this month to launch nonstop flights from Dubai to Adelaide in November. Those plans come as the carrier ramps up its services to Australia from 70 flights per week to 84 per week by March next year.
“With recent announcements – including the launch of Adelaide as Emirates’ fifth gateway in Australia and increased capacity for Perth through a third daily flight, as well as the introduction of a daily A380 service from Melbourne – it is clear that our employment numbers will continue to rise. We’ll reach the milestone 5,000 mark this month,” said Barry Brown, Emirates’ vice president Australasia.
