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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.
Dan
says:I think the Qantas senior management should take a flight on one of these Emirates jets to see how to treat their customers.
Clint
says:Dan I’m not a fan of Qantas and it’s service either. In fact it’s terrible. However in my opinion I have found Emirates to only be slightly better. If only Virgin flew to more international destinations from Australia. Majority of airlines should take a page out of their book
David
says:Not my esxpeience at all…Emirates are superb..Have you ever flown on their A380. Virgin have very ageing aircraft and they are not what they were 15 years ago. By contrast Emirates seem to offer fantastic customer service and a fantastic inflight entertainment (over 1400 choices). I’d fly EK every time.
another David
says:Yes, David. Also EK does not mind to pay their employee nicely, and they are employing more Aussies here and in their own home. Why not flying EK? I will too!!!
pez
says:And yet the unions wonder why Qantas need to cut costs to compete? Gee…..I wonder…….
Clint
says:I enjoyed the product Emirates offered, e.g, entertainment is fantastic. However customer service from their staff was quite poor. Are you referring to Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Australia. I am referring to Virgin Australia. Fantastic customer service
777 Driver
says:Dont blame the company or the unions, the big difference is tax, an EK entry level pilot earns the Aussie gross equivalent of $230,000 but due to no income tax, the salary bill for EK is much less. Surprisingly enough in Dubai healthcare is good, security top notch and infrastructure is second to none. Julia should jump on a plane and learn how to run a country with pride and purpose
random
says:The problem for Qantas is that it’s wedged in the middle of two market segments and can’t compete effectively in either… mainly because of cost.
It’s premium brand doesn’t have the luxurious and exotic feel of many of the foreigner carriers these days (how to do luxury on the cheap without it looking that way?), and it struggles to compete on price for the lower end of the market which is basically price sensitive.
Furthermore, it used to be able to achieve brand separation on safety, but has succeeded one way or another in killing much of that record and public perception.
Ian
says:Qantas seems to be fair game for a lot of people.
It is my understanding that a number of foreign airlines operating into the cut throat Australian market today are subsidized by their governments which makes competition for Qantas or the more difficult.
Also regarding safety Qantas has had its share of media coverage for which the media sensationalizes just to get a story. Having worked in Air Traffic Control for thirty years I know of many incidents affecting foreign airlines that never reached both the print and electronic media.