American Airlines has just reopened flight attendant recruitment for the second time in less than six months but you’ll have to be quick as the Dallas Fort Worth-based carrier plans to slam shut the recruitment window as soon as it has enough candidates to move forward with the hiring process.
The airline had hoped to hire as many 800 flight attendants since August 2021 but has been forced to reopen the recruitment window as it plans for a surge in demand as soon as the latest Omicron surge has passed.
The fact that AA is reopening flight attendant hiring so quickly could also be reflective of the general hiring crunch being seen across the United States. Airlines are normally inundated with applications from aspiring flight attendants but other U.S.-based carriers have also seen a dip in applications in recent months.
Perhaps it’s also because the flight attendant profession might not be viewed as nearly as glamorous as it once was, given that hardly a day goes by without a headline of unruly airline passengers causing mischief.
Flight attendant unions have complained about working conditions throughout the pandemic and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) which represents crewmembers at AA will soon be entering contract negotiations for better working conditions.
In a posting on its recruitment website, American Airlines warns candidates that they’ll need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if they want to have any hope of landing the job as a flight attendant with the carrier.
Last week, AA told existing employees that that 96% of its U.S.-based workforce had either provided proof of full vaccination or applied for a religious or medical exemption. The same exemption may be available to job applicants.
Further details can be found on the official AA recruitment website here.
