AFTER experiencing a slowdown in the past two years, Qatar Airways Group is starting to position itself for a revival in air travel demand by hiring a significant number of new employees from the Philippines to support its global operations over the coming months.
Starting April 18, 2022, the airline company is looking to rebuild its workforce close to pre-pandemic levels as the network continues to expand.
In the Philippines, the airline said it is targeting to hire cabin crew, lounge and contact center staff for the group’s customer experience department, where the greatest number of current vacancies exists.
The Filipino recruitment drive will make up a significant segment of the airline’s total global recruitment exercise, the airline said in a statement.
“We are thrilled to be able to expand our team with this recruitment exercise in the Philippines, as we excel our recovery in the global aviation sector while creating job opportunities for the Filipino market,” said Rossen Dimitrov, Qatar Airways chief customer experience officer.
“We are also open to any collaboration to support tourism recovery in the Philippines, and are already planning a series of activities to help with reopening recovery,” he added.
Dimitrov said there is quite a large number of Filipino staff in Qatar Airways and it accounts for a large segment of our overall cabin crew population.
Recruitment schedule, perks
Qatar Airways will mount a recruitment drive across key cities in Manila, Clark, Cebu and Davao. Interested applicants can start applying for roles online via Qatar Airways career page and learn more about the Philippines recruitment drive on http://www.qatarairways.com/philippinesrecruitment.
The recruitment roadshows will begin in Manila from April 18 to 21 while the Cebu, Clark and Davao road shows will be scheduled in the coming weeks.
“With Cebu being one of our existing gateways in the Philippines we’re flying to, it naturally will be a target city for our recruitment drive,” said Dimitrov, in an email interview.
Qatar Airways staff can take advantage of the competitive tax-free income, including accommodation, allowances and transportation for duty, as well the pride of flying with the only airline in the world that has won the World’s Best Airline six times.
Moreover, the Doha-based airline is optimistic of the gradual return of both leisure and business travels, following the reopening of borders of the Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia region. In fact, the airline is already seeing the return of leisure bookings and eventually, the steady return of business travels.
“We remain confident that business travel will steadily return, limited by entry restrictions rather than consumer confidence. We know that corporate travelers are eager to get back to business as usual, particularly to support client relationships and in-person interactions that are crucial to business success as the global economy recovers,” said Dimitrov.
“Our strategy is simple – both leisure and business travelers choose Qatar Airways because they know that they can rely on us to get them where they need to be with one of the largest global networks and with the service excellence, leading product and biosafety standards that they expect. We are also maintaining our flexible booking policy knowing that pandemic situations can be unpredictable and our passengers would want to have a peace of mind with their bookings,” he added.
Flight schedule in PH
Qatar Airways flies Manila – Doha, 17 times weekly; Clark-Doha, seven times weekly; and Cebu-Doha, four times weekly.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Qatar Airways operated a once-weekly flight between Davao and Doha via Clark. But the route is currently suspended, and the airline is monitoring the demand to resume the route “when the time is right.”
On the other hand, it launched its Cebu route in July 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s worth noting that unlike most international airlines that stopped operating during the pandemic, Qatar Airways is one of the very few airlines that never stopped flying,” said Dimitrov.
Asked if the airline plans to add more routes to the Philippines, the airline’s top official said they are always monitoring the route’s demand and will adjust frequency accordingly.
“We will announce whenever there’s an increase in flight, but for now I believe we’re meeting the local demand,” he said.