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Older Britons are viewing cabin crew as a 'fantastic' career pivot regardless of age, the carrier said

EasyJet has launched a recruitment drive for over-50s, admitting customers prefer the "life experience" of older crew members on board.

The carrier had launched a scheme to bring in older crew members back in 2022, with the company saying the move helped double the number of cabin crew members aged 50 and over.

The initiative also quadrupled the number of flight attendants aged 60 and over working for the airline.

EasyJet said its research showed that the majority of adults who make a career change after the age of 50 report an improvement in their happiness.

The carrier also said they found that many people assume cabin crew roles are for younger people, and were worried they would be the oldest in the team.

EasyJet's director of cabin services, Michael Brown, said: “It’s been incredibly encouraging to see the numbers of cabin crew over 50 more than double since 2022 - evidence that many are increasingly viewing cabin crew as a fantastic career pivot regardless of age.

“We want more over-50s to apply as they not only bring their existing skills to excel in a career at EasyJet, but also a wealth of life experience that is appreciated by our customers and colleagues alike, which is at the heart of the fantastic service our crew are known for.”

Meanwhile, Employment Minister Andrew Western hailed “supportive employers like EasyJet" for appreciating "the breadth of experience over-50s can bring to the workforce".

"It shows what can be achieved when this is valued," he added.

Applications open from September, with opportunities available across the airline’s UK bases.

The fresh drive comes after Ford brought more than 300 veteran engineers out of retirement after its AI systems failed to live up to expectations in quality control.

The American car giant had grown increasingly dependent on AI for its engineering and manufacturing processes.

The rehired specialists, known internally as "greybeards," have been hauled back to work to help boost vehicle reliability, Bloomberg revealed.

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Charles Poon, the carmaker's vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, confessed that Ford had failed to properly consider the skills and experience of its most seasoned staff.

"Over prior years, we didn't pay as much attention as we should have to the experience of our most knowledgeable engineers that have been with us through many product cycles," he told reporters.

"Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that would produce a high-quality product."

But easyJet's drive to bring in more experienced crew members comes as Britain's youth stare down the barrel of an increasingly bleak jobs market after the number of graduate roles advertised plunged to its lowest level on record.

In July, just 8,383 positions for university leavers were advertised - a 45 per cent collapse compared with the same month last year.

Data compiled by recruitment platform Adzuna shows the figure is the lowest since records began in 2016.

The figures come as a record 262,820 18-year-olds secured university places following this month's A-level results.

Employers have been cutting back on entry-level recruitment amid higher employment costs, including Labour's increases to National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also transforming the graduate jobs market, with technology increasingly capable of carrying out administrative tasks traditionally given to junior employees.