Middle Eastern Airlines- What Are They Really Like to Work For?

Recently I have been receiving a lot of questions & emails regarding recruitment for Middle Eastern airlines. Being that I don't work for one, I've had to do a little research to find out the answers to some of those questions. Luckily for all the wannabes out there, I have some 'spies' out there in certain airlines who have been willing to answer my nosy questions so that I can tell you what you want to know.

So, just which airlines are we talking about here?

The most well known ones are, of course, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar. In addition to these "Big Three", we also have Gulf Air, Bahrain Air, FlyDubai, MEA, Air Arabia, Egyptair and Saudi Arabian to name a few. I'm planning to write a series of posts on the subject, covering various areas that people ask about, such as training, living conditions and rules imposed on FAs working for those companies.



Some of the questions I've received include:

* What's the pros & cons of working in the Middle East? (I believe this one depends largely on where you are based)

* Do all of the airlines have a curfew on their crew? I heard that they have tough rules and you cannot have visitors overnight.

* What are the perks of working for these companies- how much vacation time do you receive & what is the salary like?

* What kind of flying do they do- long or short haul? How long are the layovers? Do they have to share rooms with each other?

If you have another question you'd like answered, leave a comment below, or you can also contact me on Twitter or Facebook.