About 700 applicants have advanced to the interview stage and 240 offers have been made, US Airways said yesterday in its weekly employee newsletter. The influx echoes the rush for flight-attendant jobs at Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), which said last month that its 300 openings attracted 22,000 candidates.

 

Flight attendant positions, which are typically lower paid, are attracting a surge in interest as exotic alternatives in a still weak labor market, said Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University. The U.S. unemployment rate held at 7.8 percent in December after the November figure was revised up from a previously reported 7.7 percent.