(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) As the Emirates Group announced its most profitable year yet, the company revealed that it hired more than 17,000 employees in the last year alone. On the back of strong consumer demand, Emirates and dnata ramped up recruitment activity across the globe during the year 2022-23. As a result, the group's total workforce increased by 20% to 102,379 employees, representing over 160 different nationalities.

On Thursday, the company releasing its 2022-23 annual report posted a record annual profit of Dh10.9 billion ($3.0 billion). This is a complete turnaround from the company's loss position last year.

“We had anticipated the strong return of travel, and as the last travel restrictions lifted and triggered a tide of demand, we were ready to expand our operations quickly and safely to serve our customers,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group.

“Our ongoing investments in our brand and in our products and services helped drive customer preference and position us favourably in the market. As a result, we have delivered a record financial performance and cash balance for our financial year 2022-23. This reflects the strength of our proven business model, our careful forward planning, the hard work of all our employees, and our solid partnerships across the aviation and travel ecosystem.”

Hiring spree

Even as the global airline industry faced a severe shortage of skilled staff, Emirates managed to find and recruit staff.

Several times last year, the company held open days and participated in career fairs to recruit the burgeoning demand in the aviation industry. In September, the group announced it would hire over 800 in several fields, including software engineering, DevOps, Hybrid cloud, Agile delivery, technical product management, Digital Workplace, cybersecurity, IT architecture, innovation and service management.

In December, the group conducted open days in Antwerp, Sarajevo, Milan, Barcelona, Nice, Montpellier and Bodrum to hire cabin crew.

There are almost 200 open vacancies on the group's career website, with more than half of the openings in the UAE.

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