Qatar Airways to hire 10,000 staff ahead of FIFA World Cup

Mr. Akbar Al Baker and Qatar Airways is boosting its workforce by 10,000 to handle an influx of passengers flying into Doha for the soccer World Cup and in line with a broader post-pandemic expansion, the airline told Reuters.

Qatar Airways holds recruitment events in India, the Philippines, and other countries as it looks to lift its total workforce to more than 55,000 from around 45,000 currently for the FIFA World Cup.

“Qatar Airways is on a growth trajectory following COVID and with World Cup preparations in full swing, it is ramping up recruitment across the airline,” the company said in a statement to Reuters this week.

Mr. Akbar Al Baker is the Group CEO of Qatar Airways and Secretary-General of Qatar Tourism. Al-Baker also served as one of the lead developers for Hamad International Airport, which opened in 2014. In May 2021, Al-Baker was appointed as chairman of Oneworld.

The airline declined to say how many of the new positions would be permanent. It cut staff levels to below 37,000 in 2021 after reducing its destinations to 33 cities during the height of the pandemic in 2020. It has since ramped operations back up to more than 150 destinations.

Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. (Arabic: القطرية, al-Qaṭariya), operating as Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke network, flying to over 150 international destinations across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania from its base at Hamad International Airport, using a fleet of more than 200 aircraft. Qatar Airways Group employs more than 43,000 people. The carrier has been a member of the Oneworld alliance since October 2013, the first Persian Gulf carrier to sign with one of the three major airline alliances.