Korean Air, the country’s No. 1 air carrier, said Thursday that it will recruit an additional 500 flight attendants this month.

The recruitment, which is on the largest scale ever, comes shortly after the company hired a total of 500 employees in February and March, company officials said.

The air carrier also said that it will hire another group of 500 in the latter half of this year, which means 1,500 flight attendants will be employed in 2011. About 1,150 were recruited last year.

The move takes place as Korean Air plans on introducing 16 new aircrafts this year, including five A380s which will be flying here beginning in June.

Applicants will be accepted at the company’s website (recruit.koreanair.com) until May 19 and applications for those with experience will be taken from May 20-30.

Currently, Korean Air has 106 aircraft and 5,750 male and female flight attendants.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)