Air China's - Orient Aviation

MAIN STORYthem with Shenzhen Airlines– but until now it has not beenofficially acknowledged.In February, Beijing-basedAir China publicly announcedp l a n s f o r a n o v e r s e a srecruitment campaign.Q uot e d i n t he ChinaDaily, a senior Air Chinaexecutive, Li Huxiao, saidthe carrier was introducingup to 30 aircraft in the next12 months, but “the exactnumber will depend on thesupply of aircrew members,par ticularly the pilots.Currently, we are short of atleast 40 captains, so we willtry to recruit foreign pilots”.Also, Shanghai Airlinesis reported to have startedh i r i ng foreig n pi lot s.‘ In the past twoyears nearly80 pilots haveleft out of ourcockpit crew ofnearly 500’Jaime BautistaPresidentPhilippine AirlinesGrowing at 30% a year, the carrier has signedup eight pilots from nations such as the U.S.and Sweden to fly its MD-11 cargo planes,according to the Xinhua news agency.Big Chinese airlines are facing anotherproblem for the first time. As more privatecarriers emerge, they are attempting to hirecrew from the major airlines. It was reportedin December that a number of captains fromthe Jiangsu Branch of China Eastern Airlines(CEA) asked to resign to work elsewhere, asituation unheard of previously.However, CEA and other airlines aretrying to nip this trend in the bud by suingdefecting pilots for training costs.I n I n d i a , s h o r t a g e s a r e j u s t a scritical. Unparalleled growth,with orders placed for close to 400new jets and turboprops in the past18 months, means airlines need atleast 4,000 pilots in the next fourto five years.Industry insiders say at leasta dozen aircraft are sitting on theground because there is no one tofly them. Dinesh Keskar, Boeingsenior vice-president sales, saidpilot salaries have risen 40%.The problem is not confinedto the booming markets of Chinaand India, nor the Philippines andIndonesia. All majorAsian airlines havesophisticated pilottraining programmeswith strong forwardp l a n n i n g i n p l a c ea n d m o s t p l a n t oincrease their cadet intakes incoming years.Some, like Korean Air (KAL),have their own flight schools. Ninehundred cadets have graduatedand joined KAL flight crews sincethe facility opened in 1989. But thepressure is still on to produce morecrew and not always because ofpilot poaching.Japan Airlines (JAL) expects tolose more than 100 pilots annuallyin the next six years as a result ofretirements. With 2,600 pilotsoperating internationally and790 domestically (low-operatingcost international subsidiary, JALways,has another 244), it aims to hire more non-Japanese cockpit crew to deal with thelosses.And in a move rapidly becoming morecommon in global aviation, JAL plans tomake more use of retired pilots – up tothe age of 65 and in excellent health – in aspecial flight crew programme approved bythe Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB). Theofficial retirement age for pilots is 60.India has twice raised the pilot retirementage, from 60 to 61, then up to 65, as wellas reducing the total flying time needed toqualify for a commercial pilot’s licence from250 hours to 200 hours.Malaysia also has set pilotretirement at 65, a move thatfollowed an exodus of pilotsfrom Malaysia Airlines. Itlost more than 80 in 2004and 2005.Taken together, thesetrends illustrate a criticalissue for the region’s airlineindustry: how to acquire‘ We don’t wantto move tooquickly becausethat in and ofitself causesproblems’Capt. Kevin ParkerDirector of trainingZhuhai FlightTraining Centresufficient cockpit crew tomeet forward fleet expansionplans and, more importantly,how to acquire them oncethey are hired.Flying schools acrossthe region are increasingtheir cadet throughput asthe gravity of the skillsshortage – it involves flightattendants, maintenanceengineers, ground crewRecent training developments (Continued)• Qantas Airways is teaming up with Alteon to expand trainingcentres in Australia and push for third party work.• The Zhuhai Flight Training Centre, a joint venture betweenChina Southern Airlines and Canadian simulator manufacturerCAE, currently training 400 pilots a year, will increase thenumber to 500 next year and 600 in 2008. It has ordered threemore full-flight simulators and three CAE Simfinity(TM) threedimensionaltrainers worth about $45 million.• The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Civil AviationFlight University of China in Sichuan is raising its intake of pilotstudents this year from 600-700 to 1,200.• Air India is considering opening its own aviation academy totrain pilots, cabin crew and maintenance personnel. It currentlyhas no ab initio flying training centres and uses the IndiraGhandi Rashtriya Uran Academy in Rae Bareli. That school isincreasing its student numbers from 30 to 50 a year.• Low-cost Indian carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, is establishingKingfisher Aviation University to train pilots, maintenanceengineers and flight attendants. Likely to be near Mumbai, itshould be in operation by mid-2007. Initially, it will have oneATR and two A320 flight simulators.• Another Indian low-cost carrier, Air Deccan, has plans toopen its own training centre, either at the Jakkur Aerodromeoutside Bangalore or on government-owned land near thenew Bangalore airport.• India’s Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training is expanding,increasing its training centres in the country from 49 to 60.Total intake will rise to 12,000 students.16 ORIENT AVIATION MAY 2006