Who writes this tripe?
Is the author serious? Just because BA and Iberia are taking on a couple of hundred Ab initio's between them in the next few years means we now have a pilot shortage? Well Spanair went broke at just the right time for all those guys to move straight over to Iberia Express seeing it is the same A/C being used.
There is some movement in Oz but only for TP jobs. Qantas hasn't hired in nearly 4 years. Virgin only takes a trickle of very experienced applicants and Jetstar are only recruiting for Asia right now which requires time on type or loads of TP time.
The US majors are having a trickle of furlough's coming back but not many. American is in bankruptcy protection so that only leaves TP operators who pay you 18k for your first year wage.
This shortage as a previous poster said is in the Far and Middle East only and is only for Captains. China Southern, Hainan Airlines and most of the other Chinese carriers have no trouble training local FO's it's just that they take a bit more time to upgrade for various reasons. The two main flying schools in Indonesia are pumping out about 400 students a year which easily covers thier needs. The likes of Merpati and Citilink are only taking expat FO's cause you gotta pay them 20-30k for the job.
Singapore Airlines and Cathay have very succesful cadetships which will see them through the next 10 years easily. Singapore Airlines are now taking cadets from India. There are probably between two and four thousand fATPL holders in India without a job and no prospect of one soon. This could easily cover the so called "shortage" for quite a number of years.
Last edited by tarmac12; 2nd Feb 2012 at 21:55.