Dubai’s carrier Emirates Airline plans to recruit more than 700 pilots by the end of 2011 to support the airline’s new routes and aircraft acquisition programme.

On 4 June, the airline will start recruiting from Madrid, one of six new destinations Emirates has announced this year.

Flights to Madrid will start from 1 August and other new routes to include Tokyo, Amsterdam, Dakar, Prague and Baghdad in 2010.

Emirates will then recruit from Barcelona and other places across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

The airline has now received its ninth Airbus A380 aircraft and is scheduled to take delivery of the tenth A380 plane next week.

Emirates now has 147 aircraft in its fleet and is due to take delivery of six more aircraft in 2010.

A total of 144 planes worth $48bn are on order.

In 2014, Emirates will also start to take delivery of the 70 Airbus A350 aircraft it has on order (MEED 12:5:10).

Emirates recorded a net profit of $964m for the financial year ending 31 March 2010, a 415 per cent increase on the previous year.