Hays Travel has taken on 148 cabin crew to train as agents in its retail stores to help cope with the busy peaks period.
The independent agency chain said recruiting staff for its high street branches had proved to be a problem and vacancies across its network needed to be filled before Christmas.
“We had to think creatively about how we could recruit to help us in January,” said Dame Irene Hays, chair of Hays Travel, during the chain’s retail conference in Portugal.
“We thought about cabin crew who do not fly in winter – they often finish after October half-term and then go on training courses before Easter when they start flying again, which is a perfect fit for us.”
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Hays Travel has been running adverts on social media to target crew from airlines such as Tui Airways and Jet2.com.
“We did not know how attractive it would be but our recruitment campaign was really successful and we are delighted with the response,” she said.
Jonathon Woodall-Johnston, chief operating officer, said cabin crew are well connected, so news of the vacancies quickly spread once they had appeared on social media.
Tailored training has begun with the first tranche of recruits and the agency hopes all those being taken on will be in post by December 8.
“The shop managers are loving the additional support, especially as the crew have product and destination knowledge,” said Woodall-Johnston.
“They are easier to train than people who are new to travel.”
Hays added: “Cabin crew want to use their customer service skills and keep those fresh rather than working elsewhere, where they can’t use those skills.”
She said those who had been recruited would normally work over winter for companies such as Boots or Amazon, which are also busy during the Christmas period.
“Our objective is not to poach staff but, once they have got that travel bug out of their system, they could come back to us,” she said.
Woodall-Johnston said Hays Travel’s peaks marketing campaign will start in the second week of December, spanning TV and radio plus national and regional press.
The agency will also capitalise on publicity surrounding the ‘opening’ of a Hays Travel store on the famous cobbles of ITV’s Coronation Street, which was announced earlier this year.