ATLANTA (AP) -- Delta Air Lines Inc. said Friday that it is adding back 1,000 flight attendants, including recalling 425 who were on a voluntary furlough.
The focus of the hiring is on foreign-language speakers who can work on international flights and speak languages including Japanese, Mandarin, Dutch, and Spanish, airline spokeswoman Betsy Talton said.
The new flight attendants will begin training in January and should be flying by the middle of next year, she said.
Delta has received more than 85,000 applications for the flight attendant jobs. The last time Delta hired new flight attendants was in 2008. The 425 who are returning to work came from a pool of about 730 who volunteered for furloughs. All those who wanted to come back to work, did, Talton said.
Delta flight attendants are in the midst of voting on whether they want to be represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, or go without a union. The airline said the recalled flight attendants would have been able to vote in the election whether or not they had come back to work. Voting runs through Nov. 3.
