China's pilot shortage problem
China's domestic passenger growth rate is one of the highest in the world, at around 14 percent in June, but, along with its flight delay problem, Chinese airlines are struggling to find pilots. And they're looking for foreign help, Wall Street Journal reports:
While China is training more local crews, pilots still need roughly a decade of experience before they can be promoted to captain. The air-travel boom has outpaced that maturation. Today, nearly all Chinese airlines employ foreign crews. Americans represent the largest proportion.
Chinese carriers started hiring foreign pilots in 2003. They now account for roughly 6% of the commercial-pilot workforce, with 1,778 foreign-pilot licenses issued as of last year, according to China's aviation regulator.
That's not good news for the U.S. airline industry which is facing a pilot crisis of its own. Especially, as WSJ reports, with Chinese airlines willing to pay salaries as high as $270,000 per year to lure pilots from the U.S. The average salary for a captain of an aircraft in the U.S.? $135,000.
Read more: Wall Street Journal
Photo: Flickr/dcmaster
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- China’s odd way of fixing its flight delay problem
- U.S. airlines are running out of pilots
- China needs 5,000 new planes to meet growing demand
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com