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

The warning by IATA that the sands of time are running out on the pilot shortage problem is especially important for China in that it has the fastest expanding aviation market and, potentially, the biggest future problem from a severe shortage of pilots.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the apex body of all leading airlines of the world, has warned airlines of a severe pilot shortage unless a concerted effort is made to change training and qualification practices to produce out more pilots every year.

According to IATA’s new estimates the global airline industry will need 17,000 new pilots annually due to expected industry growth and retirements.

Increasing retirement age of pilots to 65 may help but it can’t be the only solution according IATA.

Giovanni Bisignani, IATA Director General and CEO, said, ‘It’s time to ring the warning bell. We must re-think pilot training and qualification to further improve safety and increase training capacity.’

He told the FAA International Safety Forum that industry is concerned because ‘There are no global standards for training concepts or regulation. Pilot training has not changed in 60 years — we are still ticking boxes with an emphasis on flight hours.’

IATA supports the competency-based approach of multi-crew pilot licensing (MPL) training programs. Unlike traditional pilot training, MPL focuses from the beginning on training for multi-pilot cockpit working conditions. It also makes better use of simulator technology.

Europe was among the first regions to adopt MPL and Australia and China are moving ahead with implementation. In China, IATA is working with the government to develop the syllabus and incorporate MPL into national regulation.

But even with this effort there will be shortages. Which means that in the ever-contentious relationships between flight crew and management the pilots will start to get the upper hand. Which, inevitably, means increases in salaries and thus in air fares.

Boeing has a $3.8 billion order from Guangzhou-based Southern Airline for 55 Boeing 737 aircraft. Our illustration is of some of them being built. This order means that Boeing has moved yet further into the China market which is forecast within twenty years to become the second biggest airplane market.

Southern Airline now has 129 Boeing 737 airplanes, each of which, depending on configuration, has a capacity of around 100 passengers.

Southern Airline bought 10 Boeing 787-8 planes in August 2005 and signed another order for six Boeing 777 cargo planes last year.

In aicraft, once you have a customer it is a reasonable expectancy that you will sell more aircraft. An airline simply does not want to deal with the complexities of aircraft from different manufacturers. Indeed airlines tend to be put-off by the complexity of running more than two models from the same company. Stick to one manufacturer, one or two models and all of your maintenance and inflight crew can be shuffled around because they all have experience in type. Thus this latest 55 aircraft order is, for Boeing, merely the logical successor to the original orders.
Source: Shanghai Daily

An agreement signed by Air China could see it becoming one of the largest airline training providers in the world. It has signed a framework agreement to build a training center in Shunyi near Beijing airport that will eventually house 30 full-flight simulators as well as other pilot and cabin-crew training equipment.

Air China said the framework agreement ‘is a letter of intent and final details still need to be worked out’. It adds ‘there is no specific timetable’ for building the new training center.

Air China says its existing center is ‘not that big’ and there have been occasions when the carrier has had to send pilots to other simulator centers in China or overseas. The airline wants a much larger training center to support future growth.

Air China said, ‘We are doing it because we have a plan to expand our fleet, so we need to have more pilots and cabin crew.’

The airline has 187 aircraft in service and another 81 on order, including Airbus A320-family aircraft, A330s and Boeing 787-8s. Air China also has equity stakes in other airlines such as Cathay Pacific Airways, Shenzhen Airlines and Shandong Airlines.

According to statistics from the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), the industry regulator, about 11,000 pilots are employed to fly more than 770 aircraft operated by the major Chinese commercial airlines. This is a figure industry experts say is inadequate to cope with rocketing demand for passenger services.

The Civil Aviation Flight University of China, the nation’s major training school for commercial airline pilots based in Sichuan and Henan provinces, graduates a maximum of 600 pilots a year.

Based on the delivery of new aircraft, industry experts estimate that China has needed between 1,200 and 1,600 new pilots every year since 2000.

Our image is of a flight simulator. It may look like a Dalek but, inside, it is very close to the real thing. Pilots training in one can be put through emergencies that simply never happen in real life.
Source: Source: Flight