Wizz Air, the Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier, has stated that it will increase recruitment, with intentions to hire 20,000 new staff by 2030, following the adoption of an ambitious corporate expansion scheme.
Wizz Air plans to add 500 planes to its fleet by the end of the decade, which will need the hiring of 6,600 new pilots.
The announcement was made during Pilot Expo 2022, Europe’s largest exhibition for flight crew recruitment and training, which took place in Berlin, Germany on May 7 and 8, 2022. The 20,000 new workers will be split between flight and cabin staff, according to the airline. Wizz Air now has 6,000 employees.
When asked about the exact number of pilots the airline plans to hire, Ewa Danecka-Latka, Wizz Air’s Head of Crew Resources, revealed that flight crew members will account for about 33% of all new personnel, or up to 6,600, while flight attendants will cover the remaining 13,400 positions.
“The plan is to grow three times in just nine years and it is not just a dream, this is one of the KPIs that we have to deliver. For our recruitment team it means that we have to recruit one person every hour, which represents our goal of 2,000 new hires per year,” Danecka-Latka said.
“As we need a lot of new pilots and a lot of new cabin crew members joining our operations, this is what we are preparing ourselves for,” she added.
“Currently we have 42 bases all over the world and they are located in 18 countries. So, there is a huge number of locations that a pilot or a cabin crew member can be assigned,” Danecka-Latka explained.
Applicants interested in joining any of Wizz Air Holdings’ (WIZZ) subsidiaries, including Wizz Air Hungary, Wizz Air UK, or its newest affiliate, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, would fly a monogamous fleet of Airbus A320 family jets, including as Airbus A320ceos, A321ceos, A320neos, and A321neos. Wizz Air now operates 153 planes, according to its website.
However, Danecka-Latka claims that the airline plans to triple its fleet size in the future. Wizz Air expects to produce €15 billion in annual revenue by the end of the decade with a fleet of 500 planes.
