Fresh out of Flight School....asian/U.S job outlook?
 

i keep hearing that there is a shortage of pilots in asia and maybe here in the states. i also know alot of students come from china, india, and korea to enroll in flight school here in the us. my quesion is: being korean american i want to work for a korean airlines and commute from cities in the us(LA, Dallas, Chicago). if i enrolled in flight school what are the chances of getting a job as a second officer or getting hired for training to be first officer? asiana air? korean air? i really need honest answers and really would love to hear peoples feedback....people who work for that just got hired in asia. like demand (current and future)? requirements? direct route to getting hired by the airline? more MEL? other ratings? anything useful before i start flight school. After flight school i will have:

• 250 hours total flight time - 220 hours SEL and 30 hours MEL
• Private Pilot, Airplane Single Engine Land
• Commercial Pilot, Airplane Single Engine Land / Instrument
• Commercial Pilot, Airplane Multi-Engine Land / Instrument

Already have a 4 year degree from a university

yes there might be a shortage for pilots in asia, but sure no airline is hiring a first officer with so the odds are very low for you to get a job rite away with an airliner as soon as you get your licence as of today. May be things might change and look different when you get your licence (to be optimistic), but still it can swing against you.

As of now most airliners across the world (Asia) are hiring someone with 1500 hrs TT of which min 500 hrs on type. But there have been odd cases were people with out 500 hrs on type get a job they would have more experience and would have flown some other EFIS modern jet or have done instruction with 3000+ hrs on multi etc. So pretty much not for 250 hrs TT time. So honestly speaking there is no way you will land up with an airliner with 250 odd hrs.

And it would not be as easy as you would think, i guess you need to wait for few years to get to fly routes of your choice.

If you have the right to work in US, you can get your Instructor rating done after your Commercial and the odds rite now are looking better for getting into a regional airliner with 500hrs TT and 100hrs multi. which will open up the gates for you to move to any airline in the world after few years.


Good Luck

You won't get hired by Korean or Asiana on an expat contract, without several thousand hours total flight time and minimum of 500 on heavy jets. The hiring for Asian airlines is not done directly it's done through contracting agencies such as PARC Aviation and Rishworth Aviation.

Same in China and also where I am, here in Vietnam Airlines, there is heavy and constant recruitment and expansion but it's the same deal as far as you're concerned, unless you are a local then you need a lot of big-jet time to get the interview.

We also have some American guys on furlough from US majors waiting patiently for their phone call to go home ... its been quite a few years for them now :hmm: