Taiwan's aviation industry is blossoming again after China Airlines recently opened its cabin crew recruitment drive for the first time in three years to strengthen its workforce for future expansions. Although the airline only wants to hire 100 new flight attendants, the public's response has been overwhelming, as it received about 4,000 applications.

Welcoming new flight attendants

This new batch of flight attendants will eventually be deployed across China Airlines' vast international network as the SkyTeam alliance member has been gradually expanding its fleet to increase capacities for ever-growing demand. But with thousands of applications, how will the airline narrow it down to just 100?

According to the state-owned flag carrier, the first selection phase requires candidates to undergo oral tests at its headquarters near Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport. The test results will be published on the airline's website from noon onwards on July 12th, and candidates who pass will be invited back for the second phase on July 15th.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

In the second phase, candidates will undergo interviews alongside another round of government-administered English proficiency and health tests, which will be more stringent. China Airlines highlighted a particular interest in candidates with backgrounds with unique language capabilities or nursing. The selected candidates from the second round will then be called in to begin training in August.

An international expansion

Once a batch from this local campaign is finally determined, China Airlines will soon open similar hiring campaigns in other countries like Japan, such as what the airline opened in Thailand and Vietnam a few months ago. Besides supporting a growing fleet, the airline's ramped-up recruitment efforts will ensure that passengers get the best in-flight experience wherever they go.

Photo: KITTIKUN YOKSAP | Shutterstock

Earlier last month, a Japanese passenger came under fire for her abusive behavior toward a China Airlines flight attendant on a flight from Fukuoka. The unruliness occurred after the passenger noticed the flight attendants could not speak Japanese. She became so highly agitated that she began verbally abusing them in English before the cabin manager gave her legal warnings in Mandarin.

Although the passenger was eventually escorted out and arrested, a repeat of such incidents is never wanted, so having the next recruitment campaign in Japan makes ample sense since the airline will commence a new flight service connecting Taipei and Kumamoto Airport on September 18th. The new route will complement the existing 14 weekly flights on the Taipei-Fukuoka route to give travelers more options for getting to and from Kyushu.

The airline's Airbus A321neo fleet will fly the new route every Monday and Friday, allowing an additional estimated 360 passengers to Japan weekly. As for the schedule, the China Airlines outbound flight CI 194 takes off from Taipei at around 14:30 and arrives at 17:35 at Kumamoto. Then at around 18:35, the inbound flight CI 195 departs from Kumamoto and returns to Taipei at 19:50.

Photo: Airbus

Bottom line

As the flag carrier is also subtly expanding in Europe, it's likely that the campaign in Taiwan will not be the last for this year either. And supposing the applications for these hiring campaigns continue to be as overwhelming, China Airlines will undoubtedly have an equally successful recruitment drive wherever else it plans to open.