Air China to hire foreign captains amid shortage
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-02-14 15:20

China's flagship airline is looking to hire foreign captains amid a shortage of qualified domestic pilots in the nation's fast-expanding aviation industry, state press says.

Air China's Boeing aircrafts prepare for take off at the Beijing Capital International airport. China's flagship airline Air China is looking to hire foreign captains amid a shortage of qualified domestic pilots as demand for air travel grows, state press says. [AFP]

"Currently, we are short of at least 40 captains so we will try to recruit foreign pilots," Li Huxiao, a senior staff member of Air China, told the China Daily.

The main reason foreign pilots need to be hired is because the demand for new services is growing faster than China's capacity to train pilots, Li said.

"Air China has planned to introduce 20 to 30 airplanes within this year but the exact number will depend on the supply of aircrew members, particularly the pilots," Li said.

"Currently, we are short of at least 40 captains."

Major Chinese airliners employ some 11,000 pilots to fly 770 planes, a ratio that is inadequate to cope with rising demand for air travel, said the report, citing industry experts.

China needs 1,200 to 1,600 new pilots a year but its major commercial flight training institute can only produce some 600 pilots a year, it said.

Further complicating the issue is China's ongoing deregulation of the aviation industry which has seen the start of several private airlines which are seeking to attract pilots away from the major airlines, the newspaper said.

In December alone, 10 pilots from China Eastern Airlines' Jiangsu branch resigned, apparently to take up offers from private carriers, it said.

The report did not say from which countries the foreign pilots would be recruited.