By Dai Yan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-08 11:44

The civil aviation sector is expected to be in demand of around 10,000 pilots in five years, and domestic airlines have begun to recruit self-paid pilots to meet the shortage.

In recent years, several private Chinese airlines, including OK Airways and Spring Airlines, started operations, making the civil aviation sector thirstier for pilots.

Passenger aircraft are expected to reach 1,250 by 2010, said Luo Yaguang, a recruiting officer at the Sichuan-based Civil Aviation Flight University of China (CAFUC). There are around 10,000 pilots now in China, and another 6,500 will be in demand in the next three years.

Sichuan Airlines Co Ltd announced on August 3 it plans to recruit the first batch of 50 pilots who will pay for their own training, becoming the second Chinese mainland airline after China Southern Airlines to do so.

Eligible applicants will pay 250,000 yuan each for a two-year course in Canada and one year of flight training. Those that pass final examinations will get a license. Generally speaking, about 12 percent of flight trainees will be eliminated due to physical conditions or failure to meet certain standards, according to Fang Zhijun, human resource manager of Sichuan Airlines.

Domestic airlines are vying for pilots, promising a monthly salary of 20,000 yuan (US$2,644). Employing foreign pilots is a shortcut that helps airlines save training costs and time, but it faces limitations and requires a lot of approval procedures.

Under the current Chinese pilot training system, airlines need to pay all the costs for training. Airplanes spend at least two million yuan to train a qualified pilot over 10 years, Fang said. Trainees have to first study and train at CAFUC for four years, which costs about 700,000 yuan.

Undergraduates usually take flight training for half a year to one year before they become assistant pilots. It takes five years for an assistant pilot to be promoted to pilots. During the five years, airlines have to spend 120,000 yuan a year on two retraining courses for each assistant pilot.