Ryanair heads to South Africa on recruitment drive

Appearing oblivious to the outrage caused by its language testing of South African passengers, Ryanair is heading to SA on a hiring spree.

By: Lorne Philpot

The cheeky Irish low-cost carrier which in the not-so-distant past subjected South African passport holders using its flights, to discriminatory language tests is heading to SA in search of pilots and engineers.

While this might be good news for South African aviation professionals, one can only be reminded of the outcry when Ryanair implemented language tests for passengers with South African passports in June last year. 

ALSO READ: Now flying London-Cape Town: Virgin Atlantic resumes flights

RECRUITMENT ROADSHOW

Ryanair will be heading to South Africa in April, on a recruitment drive. The company will offer visa sponsorship for candidates who meet its requirements. Ryanair’s South African recruitment roadshow will include Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Ryanair is looking to hire pilots and engineers for its operations and there is no mention of language requirements. The company has obviously forgotten about the uproar caused by its controversial language testing policy last year.

ALSO READ: UK overtakes the U.S as South Africa’s top source market

IRISH BUDGET AIRLINE

The airline operates a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft, offering a wide route network to destinations across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The low-cost carrier is the largest carrier in the world in terms of the number of routes it serves.

The carrier is favoured by many for budget trips since it offers low base fares with the option of paying for extras such as meals, pre-seating and baggage.

ALSO READ: Six places around the world where the sun ‘never’ sets or rises

RYANAIR LANGUAGE TESTING

In June last year, Ryanair came under fire for its policy of subjecting passengers holding South African passports to language tests at check-in.  The test was apparently used to assess the authenticity of South African passengers.

The test was reportedly intended to help to stop passengers from travelling on Ryanair’s flights with fraudulent South African passports.

DISCRIMINATORY NATIONALITY TESTING

The test was designed to test passengers’ general knowledge of South Africa. The questions were written in the Afrikaans language.

The test raised the ire of many South Africans because Afrikaans is not the mother tongue of most of the population. Only around 13% of South Africans speak Afrikaans as a first language, according to a 2011 census – making it the country’s third-most spoken language in SA, after Zulu and IsiXhosa. 

The testing policy was scrapped after the House of the Lords in the United Kingdom condemned the Irish airline for forcing South African passport holders to do a 15-question general knowledge quiz in Afrikaans before they could board their flights either to or from London.