2022 World Cup: Qatar Airways to hire 10,000 staff

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Qatar Airways is increasing its workforce by 10,000 people to handle an influx of passengers flying into Doha for the soccer World Cup, as part of a larger post-pandemic expansion.

According to a spokesperson who declined to be identified, the Doha-based carrier is in the midst of a recruitment drive that will increase its total workforce to more than 55,000 from around 45,000 currently.

“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.

The airline did not specify how many of the new jobs would be permanent. It reduced its workforce to under 37,000 in 2021 after reducing its destinations to 33 during the peak of the pandemic in 2020. It has since resumed service to more than 150 destinations.

According to the spokesperson, recruitment events were held in the Philippines, India, and other countries at the end of September.

It is unclear how many of the new employees will be in place when the World Cup begins on November 20 in Qatar, the first Middle Eastern country to host the event.

During the tournament, Qatar Airways is adjusting 70% of its schedule to make way for additional flights arriving in Doha and has cancelled other flights and reduced frequencies in order to free up aircraft to meet demand from fans.

Other airlines will significantly increase flights to Qatar, which has reopened an old airport for the event.

“It will be a huge challenge to be able to manage this very fast-moving demand for very large numbers of spectators,” Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker told reporters earlier this year.

Qatar faces a broad personnel shortage as it prepares to receive an estimated 1.2 million visitors during the month-long World Cup, which is expected to put pressure on its infrastructure, hospitality and security sectors.