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Malaysia - A total of 1,174 Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) holders are still jobless, prompting many to consider alternative flying opportunities.
The nature of the aviation industry is cyclical, the Department of Civil Aviation's (DCA) director general, Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, told Bernama. The current struggles are likely to remain until local airlines are able to rebuild their capacity, add new routes and strengthen human capital.
Until then, plane pilots may need to find other means to earn a living.
Azharuddin called for young unemployed pilots to try other things, such as taking up training to become flying instructors, exploring opportunities with foreign airlines, and converting CPLs to helicopter pilot licences, as there was a shortage of these in Malaysia, especially for off-shore operations.
"Too much dependence on jobs offered by local airlines such as MAS, AirAsia, Firefly, MASwings, Transmile and Berjaya Air adds to the magnitude of the problem," he said.
Besides those options, unemployed pilots can also fill vacant positions in the aviation industry, such as flight operation officers on a temporary basis.
Azharuddin denied the failure of young pilots in securing jobs was due to local airlines employing foreign pilots, adding the 200 foreign pilots engaged by local airlines filled up the vacancies of captain of the aircraft on short and medium terms.
Local airlines were required to plan for qualified Malaysian first officers to be promoted to captain, taking over the role of foreign captains in stages within three years, he said.