Mainland budget carrier to recruit Taiwanese flight attendants

Spring Airlines, a Shanghai-based budget carrier, said Monday that it will begin recruiting Taiwanese flight attendants for the first time.

The recruitment of Taiwanese cabin crew marked the one-year anniversary of the start of the carrier' s maiden voyage across the Taiwan Strait, said Wang Shuyu, manager of Spring Airlines' Taiwan branch.

As the only mainland budget airline that provides direct flights across the Strait, Spring Airlines launched its regular air route linking Shanghai and Kaohsiung last October.

It added a flight route between Shanghai and Taipei last December, and opened another regular air route in April linking Taipei and Shijiazhuang, capital of the northern province of Hebei.

"By having Taiwanese staff on board, we can provide an exceptional service experience for cross-Strait passengers, making them feel really at home," Wang said.

The carrier will not set restrictions on gender, age or specialty in its recruitment policy and holds no employment quotas for Taiwanese workers.

As long as a candidate meets the essential requirements and has a passion for aviation, he or she can be hired as the airline's cabin staff, according to Wang.

It is expected that the first batch of Taiwanese flight attendants will start to serve on flights linking Taipei, Kaohsiung and mainland cities as soon as next year, he added.

Spring Airlines have carried more than 130,000 passengers flying across the Strait over the past year.