Dubai Duty Free To Employ 1,070 New Staff In 2013

Dubai Duty Free, the airport retailer, is planning to add 1,070 new staff to its payroll in 2013. The company had increased its headcount by 1,600 in 2012 alone, taking the total staff strength to around 5,200.

“We received 65,000 resumes last year. Our HR department conducted 8,400 interviews, while 912 training sessions were conducted for the staff,” said Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman, Dubai Duty Free.

The company sells goods to about 49 per cent of all passengers that pass through the airport, handling 64,300 transactions per day.

Dubai Duty Free posted 23.5 million sales transactions in 2012, selling 73 million pieces of merchandise in total. The company has forecast sales of Dhs 6.6 billion for 2013.

This, in part, is reflective of an overall growth in the local aviation sector. Last year Dubai Airports had announced  that it would invest $7.8 billion in an airport expansion programme for Dubai International as it aims to boost its capacity from 60 million passengers a year to 90 million by 2018.