Swiss Airline Recruiting Flight Attendants

Despite the ongoing “financial burden” of the pandemic on the airline’s business, Swiss International Air Lines has begun to recruit new flight attendants after a large number of crew members to quit after the firm implemented a mandatory COVID-19vaccination policy.

Swiss, like many other airlines, was obliged to let off some employees at the start of the pandemic, while many others were placed on short-term contracts to share the limited amount of available flights.

However, the airline has lost more crew members than projected, owing to a combination of voluntary early retirements and higher-than-expected personnel turnover, as well as the airline’s divisive obligatory vaccination program.

Last August, Swiss announced a required vaccination policy, giving pilots and cabin personnel until November 15, 2021, to comply or risk losing their jobs.

Because of strong privacy restrictions, the airline has not stated how many staff members failed to get vaccinated in time for the deadline or how many employees were forced to quit as a result.

Aside from the health benefits of vaccination, Swiss revealed that it was making it mandatory for crew members to get vaccinated because a growing number of countries were making it a requirement of admission.

If there were not enough vaccinated crew members available, the airline feared it would have to cancel flights.

“To meet its projected staffing needs, SWISS will be recruiting new cabin crew members in the triple-digit range in the course of this year,” the airline announced on Tuesday.

“We’re really pleased that we’ll be creating many jobs again and welcoming these new colleagues aboard,” commented Head of Cabin Crew Reto Schmid.

In addition to hiring new cabin workers, the airline is rehiring some of those who were laid off — all of whom have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Some of the newest recruits who were working at Swiss when the pandemic first struck were offered a one-time payment of 1,000 Swiss Francs (USD $1,050) rather than being forced to leave their dream job.