After a short hiatus, British Airways has once again reopened cabin crew recruitment for its so-called ‘Mixed Fleet’ group of crew based at Heathrow Airport (LHR) as well as at London City Airport (LCY). Applications can be submitted via the airline’s official recruitment website for both candidates without any prior experience, as well as candidates who have previous flying experience and want to be trained as “World Class” cabin crew.
Candidates who haven’t worked as cabin crew before will now join British Airways as apprentices – this is a new training course that the airline introduced this year and which finishes with candidates earning a formal qualification. After the usual and intensive five-week initial training course, new hire cabin crew then complete a comprehensive on-the-job training programme over the course of 12-months.
If you have previous experience as cabin crew then you won’t need to undertake the apprenticeship scheme and depending on your level of experience and confidence you could also apply to become ‘World Class’ cabin crew. “You’ve already earned your dues in the world of Cabin Crew. You know safety and security inside out. Turbulent skies, crying babies and demanding customers hold no fears,” British Airways says of its World Class crew.
These crew members are ambassadors for British Airways and are trained as senior crew members. The airline says there will be occasions when World Class crew take an aircraft out as the in-charge flight attendant, although normally they’ll be supporting the Customer Service Manager.
For all candidates, you’ll need to meet the following minimum requirements:
- At least 18-years old
- Already able to live and work in the UK without restriction
- Fluent in both written and spoken English
- Minimum height: 5’2″ (157cm) / Maximum height: 6’2″ (187cm)
- Fit and healthy, able to swim at least 50 metres unaided
- Able to obtain a US visa and pass a criminal records check
In addition, for candidates who are wanting to apply for the World Class position, you’ll also need to meet these following criteria:
- At least 24-months of continuous flying experience
- 16 months of which were in the last five years
British Airways says that most cabin crew earn between £23,000 to 28,000 per year, while World Class earn can earn between £25,000 to £29,000 per year. In addition, all crew receive 30-days of annual leave per year and concessional travel after six months of service.
There were plans to hire around 2,000 cabin crew throughout 2019, although some candidates have been told their training courses won’t start until early next year. It’s expected that this recruitment campaign will be much smaller, with successful candidates starting at some point in 2020.
More information, as well as the opportunity to submit an application, can be found here.
