World's largest airline ramps up hiring; gets slammed with applications

Advertisements for the first airline jobs available in months are real eye catchers.

"Though it comes with plenty of baggage, this job can be quite uplifting," reads a job description on Delta's web site for a baggage handler and ramp operator.

The carrier expects to receive upward of 65,000 applications for around 1,000 openings at airports across the country, Richard Anderson, the airline's chief executive, reported recently on a weekly recorded message to employees. Even so, Anderson said this overwhelming response -- which is likely to require heavy lifting by the company's HR staff -- isn't unusual. "We usually get literally thousands more applications than we have openings," Anderson told employees.