JQ full of lies once again
Nice try Buchanan, 65 of the people who went over were from QF (on original JQ contract). Only 6 accepted part time contracts with a sunny Darwin undertone... Good luck with the rest.
JETSTAR is on the hunt for pilots for its new Japanese joint-venture after its previous foray into the job market attracted almost four applicants for each job.
The airline advertised for 150 pilots six weeks ago and received about 550 applications, including a record 156 from Qantas.
"That's well and truly in train and now we're looking for Japan for the first time," Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan said yesterday.
"We're looking to recruit about 100 pilots in Japan over the next 12 to 18 months. That's in addition to the 150 that we were looking for previously."
Mr Buchanan said the airline had already filled about 70 of the 150 roles, a good outcome because of time needed to get pilots through the assessment process.
"That's going really well, we're very happy with all of that," he said.
Mr Buchanan said about 50 pilots would move across from Qantas and he expected a good response from Qantas and Jetstar pilots for the new Japanese roles.
He said the airline had been spending time with Japanese authorities getting a licensing approach approved and had been recruiting Japanese pilots for the past two years "ahead of the curve" so they could get line experience before moving back into Japan.
Commenting on the predictions by aircraft manufacturers of a looming pilot shortage, Mr Buchanan said he was confident the airline's recruiting pipeline could fulfil demand over the short to medium term.
"Over the next 12 months I don't see any problems, but beyond that it's always tough to forecast," he said. "What we're seeing at the moment, with the weakness in Europe and the US, is an awful lot of pilots applying out of those jurisdictions.
"We're not having a lot of problems attracting pilots."
He agreed that the market would tighten but noted turnover had been small.