Airlines seek trainee pilots
26/10/2008 14:27
Dong Zhen/Shanghai Daily news
Shanghai-based airlines
are planning to tackle a pilot shortage by seeking trainees outside high schools
and colleges for the first time.
China's rapidly expanding civil airline
industry has led to a scarcity of pilots, a profession which requires years of
training.
In previous years, Shanghai branches of state-owned airlines have
held an annual screening test to find qualified candidates from high school
graduates and university students.
Candidates are sent for expensive
training at flying schools, and students have to sign a long-term contract to
cover the cost of their training after they gain their licences.
Insiders
from the civil air industry said some Shanghai-based airlines have decided to
open doors to non-students who show promise.
"It's natural that the carriers
are trying to explore new sources of candidates, given the current great demand
and a tight pool. The government air authority will not restrict their new moves
but eventually, the trainees all have to pass official government tests to get a
licence," said Qin Gang, an official with Civil Aviation Administration Bureau
of East China.
Shanghai Airlines said it also plans to seek candidates from
elsewhere in China this year. And Air China plans to recruit locally before it
sets up its branch in Shanghai.
Privately owned airlines don't train domestic
pilots, but instead rely on higher salaries to woo trained pilots from
state-owned carriers.
This week, a local court ruled that two pilots and
their future employers should pay a total of 3 million yuan (US$438,270) to
Shanghai Airlines, from which they had resigned. The compensation was meant to
cover the company's investment in training them, the court ruled.
"The
strict standards, both physically and mentally, make it impossible for carriers
to solve the great lack of pilots by just simply easing the screening
criteria,'' said Qin of the civil aviation bureau.
He said different
airlines have lowered requirements on eyesight in recent years since high-tech
instruments play a bigger part in flying planes.
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