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China grapples with pilot shortage
Leithen Francis, Singapore (07Dec04, 05:08 GMT, 450 words)
Rapid growth in China’s airline sector has created a shortage of trained commercial pilots, a problem Chinese authorities are now trying to grapple with.
China will need to recruit 12,000 pilots from now to 2010 but its two certified pilot training schools are only capable of training a total of 850-900 pilots per year, according to figures from Civil Aviation Administration of China’s (CAAC) flight standards department.
“If we operate 1,200 transportation category aircraft by the year 2010 [from] about 700 transportation aircraft by the end of 2004, we will probably need to recruit at least 12,000 commercial pilots from now to the year 2010,” the CAAC department says in an emailed response to a query from ATI.
It says currently the CAAC Flying College in Sichuan province can train 600-700 pilots a year while the China Southern Airlines Flying School in Perth, Australia is capable of training 150-200 per annum.
“Besides these two schools, the airlines in China recruit their pilots by sending cadets for flight license training in foreign countries such as Australia and the USA.
“Number of cadets is quite different each year from 100-200 each year,” it adds.
Some Chinese airlines have also resorted to recruiting pilots from overseas to overcome the problem of pilot shortage, while others have delayed taking delivery of some aircraft.
Shanghai Airlines, for example, has delayed taking its last two Boeing 757-200s on order from Boeing simply because it lacks the pilots to operate the aircraft.
Air China, which has some Airbus A320 family aircraft on order, is currently looking to recruit an unspecified number of A320 pilots from overseas. The CAAC flight standards department says there already are about 30 foreign pilots currently working in China for local carriers such as Shenzhen Airlines.
It says although China currently only has two CAAC certified commercial pilot training schools at least two other schools are planned.
Beijing Pan Am Aviation Academy last month unveiled plans to acquire 60 trainers from Diamond. The CAAC flight standards department says the school, located at Shi Jia Zhuang Airport in Hebei province, should be certified and start flight training operations in the first half of next year.
It also says “Flying Dragon flying school in Harbin …will apply for commercial pilot training”.
While the CAAC flight standards department is working to increase the country’s pilot training capability, the CAAC air safety office recently issued a directive of its own that addresses the problem of pilot shortage.
Its directive states that Chinese airlines wishing to order or lease aircraft after 1 December 2004 must do an evaluation and complete a report to show that the carrier has the pilots and maintenance capability to support the additional aircraft.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news