IG news Update,
More than 2,000 people registered for a job fair at Toronto Pearson Airport after nearly three years of turbulence in the travel sector brought on by COVID-19.
“The air industry has been hit hard by the pandemic, but travel is back and the industry is roaring back and we can’t land and fly without shoes,” said Karen Mazurkevich, Vice President of Stakeholder Relations and Communications at Greater ” the Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“This is an incredible industry and this job fair is a small window on the size of this dynamic economic sector in the GTA.”
Jobs at Canada’s busiest airport include roles in customer service and hospitality as well as security and baggage handling.
Despite the volume of passengers passing through Toronto Pearson expected to exceed 12 million in 2021 alone, Mazurkiewicz said the airport only has 1,500 employees.
Tuesday’s job fair, which saw registration top 2,300, seeks to fill positions left vacant over the past three years to set the airport up for future success.
Along with the mass-hiring event, which was funded by Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, is a new job portal and pilot project, which Mazurkiewicz said will help speed up security clearance for workers who need it. Will track down who needs them.
The Greater Toronto Airport Authority is hosting a job fair on Tuesday, January 31, 2023 at Pearson Airport.
Gurvinder Singh is one of many potential employees at Tuesday’s fair and said he would take whatever work he could find.
“I don’t have any preference. Whatever I find suitable for me, I will go for it,” Singh told CP24.
Toronto Pearson made headlines for all the wrong reasons last summer after months of delays and flight cancellations. At one point, the airport was ranked as the world’s worst airport for delays by CNN.
The unreliable rankings, which were in effect at the time due to staffing issues and COVID-19 travel measures, now seem to be a thing of the past and the introduction of new equipment in recent months has allowed passengers to get through the airport faster.
Charmaine Williams, associate minister for women’s social and economic opportunity, was in attendance Tuesday and celebrated the vote at the airport northwest of the city, which she described as “the engine of the economy in southern Ontario.”
“The job fair is nothing but excellent economic news for the local community and the people of Ontarians who make such great use of this airport,” Williams said.
People wait in line to check-in at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Thursday, May 12, 2022. The Canadian Press/Nathan Dennett
