Requirements for the applicants

When an applicant is applying for the position of cabin crew or air hostess, there are some requirements stated by the airlines, before the applicant may be called for the interview.

We are comparing the requirements from three major airlines from different regions, just to compare the information. The three requirements are taken from Singapore Airlines, Emirate and British Airways.

1. Nationality or citizenship
This is a requirements beyond the decision on the airline. The countries' law require the airline to employ the local. Any deviants from this will require approval from the government.
a. Singapore has different recruitment bases. For the Singapore and Malaysian recruitment, the required citizenship are Malaysian and Singaporean. Do not be surprise that the majority of SIA cabin crews are Malaysia.

For recruitment from other bases, like China and India, the requirement is for the citizen of the base country.

The same is for Emirate, there are two different types of recruitment, the local as well as the overseas citizens.

British airways is clearly stating that they will only employ EEA citizens.

2. Height and Reach
This is an operational requirement, as some of the safety equipments are located in the overhead compartments, the crew should be able to access it.

a. SIA is stating that the minimum height is 1.58m for female and 1.65 for male. There is no mention about the maximum height.

b. Emirate states that the reach should be 212 cm.

c. British Airways is silent on this, probably it assume that all the British will be above the height requirement of SIA.

3. Education
a. SIA stated A level and O level for Singaporean and Malaysian. For the India based recruitment, it is Bachelor Degree.

b. Emirate states that the education requirement is High School.

c. British Airwys wants the minimum of GCEs with English and Mathematics.

4. Languages.
a. All want proficiency in English.

b. Emirate wants Arabic competency on top of the English requirement.

5. Others
British Airways wants the permission to check for criminal records, no visible tattoos or body piecing. The agreement to wear the requires uniforms is also being stated.

These the minimum requirements. There are others which are specific to airlines such as the inclination for customers services and peoples skill which are difficult to judge.