China Eastern Airlines saw its share price sink 6.8% after the Civil Aviation Administration announced it was fining the company for an incident in which its pilots intentionally disrupted flights, inconveniencing hundreds of passengers.

‘This incident exposed existing weaknesses in our management and taught us a deep lesson,’ the airline said in a statement released after the aviation regulator announced it was fining the company RMB1.5 million ($214,300) for the disruptions.

The Shanghai-based airline earlier said that 21 flights on March 31 in southwestern China’s Yunnan province were intentionally disrupted by pilots who either turned back midway through their flights or landed them and then took off again without letting passengers disembark.

The pilots were reportedly disgruntled over contract and work conditions in a country that bans unauthorized labor organizing.

Aviation regulators announced the fine, and the suspension of some of China Eastern’s flights in Yunnan, after an investigation.

Having been involved in this sort of nonsense in another country the writer has a comment to make. Pilots wrongly are treated as if they, and they alone, manage the aircraft.

This should not be the case.

It is an essential that the management of the aircraft be a team effort — the second pilot is not just along for the ride — and this is now being reflected in the way the flight simulators are set up.

The pilot is God ethos has to change.

The next point is that there just are not enough pilots so they see themselves in a special bargaining position. The answer is more and more simulators and more and more pilots. Flying a modern plane is not a great skill and an unflappable manner is of greater value than a high intelligence.

The use of the term ‘captain’ should be abandoned. They are the pilot of the plane in the same way as a bus driver is the driver of a bus and elevating them to semi-God status always brings trouble. As Qantas in Australia found to its cost. And eventually to the deep distress of a large number of pilots. Who are no longer captains.
Source: Associated Press

Shenzhen Airlines, is installing a machine from Mechtronix with the snazzy and easy-to-remember name of B737-NG FFS X(TM). Not something that rolls easily off the tongue.

Mechtronix, claims it is the fastest growing and third leading manufacturer of flight training equipment in the world which is, not in truth, a major claim as there are much less than a dozen, probably closer to half that.

The equipment is currently being delivered with plans to install and qualify with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for training set to later this month the airline’s facility in Shenzhen.

The demand for pilots in China far out-strips the supply and airlines are forced, as it were, to grow their own.

Li Kun, President of Shenzhen Airlines is alleged to have said, ‘We selected the Mechtronix NZFT(TM) FFS X(TM) at Shenzhen for its growing global success serving other organizations and regulators where it has demonstrated proven quality, reliability and economic affordability.’

There is no way he actually said that. It is a prime example of PR-speak which does not relate in any way to the way that human beings converse.

The great attraction of the NZFT(TM) FFS X(TM), which is made in Montreal, although it has a long, mystifying and pretty stupid name, costs about half a typical flight simulator offering the same level of training.

The press release says, ‘The NZFT(TM) FFS X(TM) provides the highest level of fidelity and can easily be upgraded to a ZFT(TM) FFS X(TM).’

For which relief, much thanks.

Shenzhen Airlines, an airline company specializing in air passenger, cargo and mail transport, was founded in November 1992 and started service on September 17 1993. Currently it maintains 50 passenger aircraft (Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s) and four Boeing 747 cargo aircraft.
Source: CNW Group

Some aircraft do not take off this fast. China’s civil aviation traffic soared 16% to 185 million passengers last year, triggering government plans for curbs on industry growth to ensure safety.

The China Daily newspaper quoted state aviation chief Li Jiaxiang as saying the booming sector was growing too fast, raising safety risks, and needs to be brought under control.

Volume is projected to surge another 14% in 2008 to 210 million passengers, the paper said, citing figures from the General Administration of Civil Aviation.

Li Jiaxiang said, ‘The structure is outstandingly imbalanced, safety risks continue to rise and economic returns remain low.’

Curbs will include ‘tighter restrictions on new airlines entering the market’ and controls on the numbers of aircraft that airlines can purchase.
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It cited official figures saying that, despite the growth, there had been no major aviation accidents in China for 37 months, a record for the industry.

Li Jiaxiang said that under the new measures aimed at maintaining that record, airlines that have difficulty supplying required numbers of cockpit crew would not be allowed to import new aircraft or open new routes.

The government also placed a ban on new airline applications until 2010 and would more closely scrutinize investors, plane ownership and pilot quality.

Li Jiaxiang, named head of the aviation authority last month, is widely known to oppose foreign airlines gaining greater access to China’s skies. He believes domestic airlines also would be encouraged to open more long-distance international routes to raise their overseas market share.
Source: China Post

There are simply not enough pilots in China. The government, very intelligently, has frozen out about two dozen new airlines simply because there are not the pilots to go around.

Now, Sichuan Airlines has hired 12 pilots from Taiwan. This is the second batch from the island province. Our illustration sees some of them accepting their wings.

The same airline recruited eight pilots on three- to six-year contracts two year ago, becoming the first mainland carrier to employ Taiwan pilots.

Taiwan pilots are flying to and from Nanjing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

According to the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) the air transport industry has been growing at an annual rate of 16%,

In 2006, the authorities estimated that the country would need 9,100 more pilots by 2010 to fly the new Boeing and Airbus planes being added to Chinese carriers’ fleets at the rate of 100-150 a year.

The gap between the demand and supply of pilots is likely to be 2,000 by 2010.

China can now produce 1,400 new pilots a year, including the 400-odd that come out of China Civil Aviation Flight College (whose alumni include 90% of the country’s 11,000 pilots.)

The rest were trained by airlines, which prepare students in theories in aviation colleges and universities at home, and send them abroad for flight lessons.

Dearth of pilots is a problem common to all mainland airlines, from the big three — Air China, China Eastern and China Southern — to the private ones. To overcome the problem, they have sought the help of domestic aviation colleges and universities, as well as foreign flight schools.

Professor Li Xiaojin of the Tianjin-based Civil Aviation University of China says at least four carriers — Shenzhen Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, China Southern and China Eastern — have adopted this strategy to get enough pilots for their fleets.

CAAC’s Flight Standard Department official Yang Hu put it very neatly. He said, ‘The problem is that no matter how many pilots are trained every year, each new plane that is delivered needs five pilots and five first officers to ensure a smooth operation.’

Fresh flight school graduates can be employed as first officers for the first six to seven years after, and only after that can they become full-fledged pilots.

But the airlines buying the new Airbuses and Boeings cannot wait that long.

Airbus alone is expected to deliver 372 planes to Chinese airlines from December 2007 to 2012. Boeing is expected to supply another 335 aircraft.

So far, 491 overseas pilots have got their licenses from CAAC to work for Chinese airlines. Some experts say the shortage of pilots won’t last long. The country could have more than enough pilots as early as in five years. This seems grossly over-optimistic. And no suggestion is made as to what should be done during those five years.
Source: China Daily

A pilot shortage is affecting China’s aviation industry, leaving hundreds of new Boeing and Airbus jetliners on order without pilots to fly them.

China will need an average of 2,500 pilots each year for the next two twenty years and it is nowhere near set up to meet the demand.

So foreign pilots are taking command of some Chinese airliners. Aviation Minister Yang Yuanyuan recently declared that the industry is growing ‘too fast.’ He’s cut back daily flights, slowed the launches of start-up airlines and warned that safety must prevail over growth.

China isn’t the only country with a pilot shortage. It is a worldwide problem.

William R. Voss, chief executive of the Flight Safety Foundation said, ‘It’s something that is sneaking up on the industry overall because there have always been pilots in the wings.’

Chinese aviation regulators say the nation will need an additional 9,000 or more pilots by 2010, as national airlines add jetliners at the rate of up to 150 a year.

Gao Hongfeng, the deputy head of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China said, ‘But speaking truthfully, we only have the capacity to train about 7,000, leaving us short 2,000 pilots. The shortage of pilots has become an important factor constraining civil aviation’s development.’

Pierre Steffen, vice president of customer services for Airbus China said, ‘We’ve had two occasions with two Chinese airlines where sales deals were accompanied by requests for foreign pilots.

China’s Big Three airlines — Air China, China Eastern and China Southern — are working hard to deal with the pilot shortage.

Air China has reserved land to build a training center in Beijing that’s likely to be the biggest in the world, with 30 full flight simulators. That is one in our illustration.

Nearly 20 start-up airlines wait for approval to operate, and a green light may not come soon. One reason: The start-ups don’t have pilots. Pierre Steffen said, ‘Where do they get their pilots? They can only get them from existing local airlines.’
Source: Kansas City.com