Emirates dials up new Jobs for 10th birthday present

Emirates Airlines have announced the creation of 60 new jobs as it celebrated the 10th anniversary of its fast-growing contact centre.

The centre in Wilmslow will increase staff from 240 to 300 as the Dubai-based international carrier - the largest overseas airline employer in the North West -launches a recruitment drive.

The centre handles inquiries from Emirates customers throughout Europe and the expansion follows the airline's planned launch of new services from Amsterdam, Prague and Madrid, as well as its growing popularity in the UK.

The multilingual staff already speak more than 20 different languages and the hunt is now on for more Spanish, Dutch and Czech speakers.

Local MP George Osborne today sent his congratulations to staff at the centre in Riverside Court, Bollin Walk, and said: "I would like to congratulate Emirates for its long term commitment to investment and jobs in this area - I'm delighted the airline has been able to share its success with the local community."

Angie Robinson, chief executive of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: "The new jobs for the centre is great news for the area and reinforces Emirates commitment to the expansion of its services out of Manchester Airport and to the North West economy."

The centre opened in March 2000 with an initial staff of 50 and has grown along with the award-wining airline's global network. The team has taken more than 10 million calls in the 10 years since it opened. Calls from throughout Europe are channelled through to the centre between 7.30am and 8.30pm on 365 days a year.

Ahead of this latest recruitment drive, Emirates already employs a total of 380 staff in the North West which includes its Manchester Airport team managing Emirates' twice-daily flights; its Northern regional office looking after sales in the North, Midlands and Scotland and a team responsible for the airline's cargo operations.

Laurie Berryman, Emirates' Area Manager UK North, said: "We have a locally-sourced United Nations of talent at our customers' disposal at the contact centre and are proud that we have been able to grow the business and offer more opportunities for talented linguists.

"We never ceased to be amazed at the number of multi-lingual people available to us in the Greater Manchester area. Just when we think we may face a challenge finding speakers of a particular language, the applications come flooding in - there are more Czech speakers in the Manchester area than you might think."

Today's news follows Emirates' �1.5 million investment in a luxurious new lounge at Manchester Airport, which opened to its premium passengers and frequent flyers in October last year.

Emirates operates 14 daily non-stop flights from the UK to Dubai and onwards to worldwide destinations including Australia, South Africa, the Indian sub-continent and Far East. In addition to twice-daily services from Manchester, it flies from Heathrow (five times daily), London Gatwick (thrice times daily), Birmingham (twice daily), plus Newcastle and Glasgow (daily).

12th March 2010