Emirates Group, which comprises the Emirates airline and cargo handling service dnata, is launching a recruitment campaign to hire over 11,000 people this year.

The group hopes to attract 450 pilots globally as part of the campaign to help sustain ongoing fleet expansion, and it is bringing a recruitment roadshow to London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports in the hope of enticing UK pilots to apply.

Emirates’ recruitment team will be at Heathrow on 8 March and at Gatwick on 9 March.

Other than the pilots, about half of the 11,000 new recruits will be Dubai-based cabin crew. It is also recruiting for roles in flight operations, engineering, airport services and corporate functions.

A statement from the airline said the UK was and has been “an integral market for Emirates throughout its 30 years of operations”.

It has 3,499 British staff already employed as pilots, cabin crew, engineers and support staff, based in Dubai and the UK. 

Emirates Group executive vice president, human resources Abdulaziz Al Ali said the group was clearly an employer of choice as it receives “thousands” of applications from across the world each month. Its careers portal receives more than a million visitors every month.