Unintended 457 consequences could ground airlines
In a comment piece in this morning’s aviation section in The Australian by Mike Higgins, Chief Executive of the Regional Aviation Association, Mike objects to the change in 457 visas which, it appears, will now exclude pilots and avionics engineers totally, while airframe and engine engineers are only eligible for temporary visas without any access to residency.
Can someone put me in the picture here? By the look of it there is a real shortage of pilots locally. Does that mean we solve that problem by having to bring in pilots from overseas? Is there any way of training more pilots in a short time here, or is that not possible?
Will this mean in the years to come that even airlines like Qantas will be forced to have Chinese and other nationals as pilots?
I would love to have some really good comments on this.
Last edited by Dick Smith; 28th Apr 2017 at 00:10.