Airline rolls out various measures to accommodate workers hired from overseas
Hong Kong Airlines has announced that it is hiring more pilots and cabin crew within the year as daily flight volume in the air carrier returns to pre-pandemic levels.
The airline said it is expecting to recruit over 10% more pilots and 40% more cabin crew in 2024.
"We anticipate a net increase of 500 employees this year and will continue to allocate resources in various aspects of talent training and employee activities to retain our valuable employees," said Viola Wong, director of human resources at Hong Kong Airlines, in a statement.
The airline has been in a search for talent through large-scale recruitment events across various parts of Asia, including Osaka, Taipei, and Bangkok. It has also opened job applications through its official website to give opportunities other jobseekers.
Onboarding new hires from overseas
Sally Lo, General Manager of Onboard Experience at Hong Kong Airlines, said they have initiated various measures to accommodate the talent they tapped from overseas.
These measures include a comprehensive cultural guidance and language course support, as well as employee assistance programme to help the new hires cope with personal or work-related challenges that they may face during the relocation period.
"This includes offering counselling services, stress management resources, and guidance to alleviate homesickness, all aimed at helping employees adapt to life in Hong Kong and company culture, ensure sustainable talent retention," Lo said in a statement.
The widespread recruitment comes as daily flight volume at Hong Kong Airlines returned to pre-pandemic levels in the first half of the year, according to the air carrier's media release.
The organisation was previously hit hard by the pro-democracy protests and the pandemic in 2019 and 2020 that piled on to its long-standing financial difficulties. As a result, the airline saw over a hundred employees leaving in 2019, with the airline later terminating over a hundred more in early 2020 due to the pandemic.
