Zipair, Japan’s newest low-cost airline, is hiring around 100 people

At a time when most airlines are shedding jobs, there is one that is being hired – a new low cost airline called Zipair Tokyo Inc.

Japan Airlines Co.’s unit will hire around 100 employees from the broader JAL group when it launches passenger flights between Tokyo and cities like Bangkok and Seoul, a JAL spokesman said Friday.

The low-cost airline started passenger flights last week after being delayed about five months due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to media reports, the first service from Tokyo to Seoul was not exactly overcrowded, only two travelers were on board.

Zipair, which launched cargo-only flights in June, plans to add two Boeing 787 jets in fiscal 2021, the spokesman said. The new employees being hired will mainly be flight attendants, but they will also perform ground operations, including customer service functions. Zipair also plans to hire some pilots from outside the group.

Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in the aviation industry as COVID-19 decimates air travel. Japan Airlines, however, appears to be sticking to its former chairman Kazuo Inamori’s philosophy of protecting jobs at all costs. According to the spokesman, the freight forwarder has not cut jobs or given workers leave, but has preferred to replace employees from overstaffed units.

It remains to be seen whether this will last. Although Japan’s domestic routes are expected to recover to around 90% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of March, overseas routes will not pick up again until mid-2021, according to a report by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Jetstar Japan KK employees, in which JAL has a 50% interest, can also apply for the Zipair positions.

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