Induction
Your administrative first days at the airline — ID, uniform fitting, contracts, systems access — before safety training begins.
Definition
Induction is the onboarding period between your joining date and the start of formal safety training: contract signing, identity and airside pass processing, bank and payroll set-up, uniform measurement, company policies, IT and roster-system access, and a welcome from cabin crew management. At airlines that relocate crew it also covers housing allocation, residence-visa steps and a city orientation. It lasts from a day to a week.
What it means for you
Induction is where the airline stops being a brand and becomes an employer, and where you first meet the people who will run your working life. Sort the practicalities early — bank account, phone, local ID — because they gate your first salary and your first roster. It is also the first week of probation, so the attendance clock is already running.
In practice
A new Emirates joiner arrives in Dubai to an induction that includes housing allocation, residence-visa formalities and uniform fitting before the 7.5-week course at the Emirates Aviation College begins; at a European low-cost carrier induction may be a single day of paperwork before initial training.
Go deeper
Related terms
4 terms- Initial trainingSafety & trainingThe four-to-eight-week course that turns a successful candidate into a licensed, type-qualified cabin crew member.
- ProbationRecruitmentThe initial months of employment during which the airline can end your contract at short notice — and at some carriers pays you less.
- Training centreRecruitmentThe airline's facility with door and slide trainers, cabin mock-ups, fire and pool rigs where initial and recurrent training take place.
- UniformCrew lifeAirline-issued clothing crew wear on duty, governed by strict wear rules and grooming standards — issued, not chosen, down to the shoes.