Flydubai recruits pilots and crew

Getting ready to launch operations by the middle of this year, Dubai’s first budget carrier, flydubai, has completed the selection process of its pilots and crew.
The airline said yesterday it has received over 11,500 applications from flight and cabin crew over the past few months, besides having screened over 8,000 candidates for pilots alone. “Of that, 61 captains and 18 first officers, representing more than 12 nationalities, have been selected,” flydubai said in a statement.
The carrier which said last week it would kick off operations from Dubai International airport’s terminal two, has so far employed 80 cabin crew from the 3,500 applications received. “The first group of 21 cabin crew and 24 captains are currently undergoing training in preparation for flydubai’s launch in a few months’ time,” the airline said in the statement.
“Of the pilots we have on board, each have, on average, more than 4,000 hours serving as captain in similar aircraft and a total experience of more than 8,000 flying hours – this is impressive by any standard,” said Kenneth Gile, flydubai’s Chief Operating Officer, adding that candidate screening and selection is now complete.
Flydubai will operate a fleet of new next-generation Boeing 737-800s, each with 189 economy class seats.
The airline said the information about the initial routes would be announced shortly, with routes including destinations within 4.5 hours flying time from Dubai.
The airline said last week its operations team is currently finalising routes, which are likely to include the Indian subcontinent, North and East Africas, southeast Europe and the Middle East.
19/03/09 Emirates Business 24-7, UAE