Qatar Airways announces hiring of 10,000 staff to prepare for FIFA World Cup 2022

Qatar Airways is adding more employees and intends to hire 10,000 people to better manage the expected rush of passengers due to the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022, which is slated to take place next month until December.

The world football event will be played in eight different stadiums across Qatar, including Lusail Iconic Stadium, Al Bayt Stadium, Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, Stadium 974, Al Thumama Stadium, Education City Stadium, and the Al Wakrah Sports Complex.

Qatar Airways told Reuters that it is preparing for this big sports event and it needs to boost its workforce as thousands of fans around the world are expected to come to the soccer games. The pandemic-related restrictions were also lifted already thus, the number of visitors to the country could return to normal or even go higher.

"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 state-owned flag carrier of Qatar told Reuters in a statement earlier this week.

The job recruitment is currently ongoing, and with the addition of new workers, Qatar Airways’ total workforce will increase to more than 55,000 as it has 45,000 employees now. Then again, the airline refused to share how many of the new recruits would become permanent staff in the company.

In any case, Qatar Airways’ job hiring is not only happening in Qatar, but the recruitment events are also taking place in other countries such as India and the Philippines. Some regions have started hiring people as early as September.

Meanwhile, the airline is making flight schedule adjustments to make way for the FIFA World Cup. It will re-arrange 70% of its schedule to accommodate more flights arriving in Doha. As part of its preparations for the major sports event, it has also canceled some flights as well as reduced flight frequencies to free up airplanes and meet the travel demand of soccer fans.

"It will be a huge challenge to be able to manage this very fast-moving demand for very large numbers of spectators," Akbar al-Baker, Qatar Airways chief executive officer, previously told the media.