Asia pilot gap grows as airlines order new jets

Hong Kong: Fast-growing Asian and Middle Eastern airlines that have signed orders for hundreds of new airplanes now must find enough pilots to fly them. For safety-conscious travelers, that means sticking with the big, well-known airlines who can afford to lure the best staff as the scramble to fill the cockpit intensifies.
Warnings have been raised for several years of a pilot shortage in Asia, but the latest orders add to the urgency. The region is forecast to account for the lion’s share of global aircraft deliveries over the next two decades as demand for air travel surges amid strong economic growth. It’s also forecast to need the largest number of new pilots and the widening shortage of experienced staff is raising safety concerns and playing havoc with flight schedules.
Last month, Indonesia’s Lion Air ordered 230 Boeing Co. 737s with options for 150 more. Qatar Airways ordered at least 55 jets from Airbus SAS while Emirates ordered 50 Boeing 777s. From 2011 to 2030, Boeing and Airbus both predict Asia will account for about a third of global aircraft deliveries worth a total of more than $1 trillion.
To keep up with growth and replace retiring pilots, the International Civil Aviation Organization forecasts Asia will need 229,676 pilots over the next two decades, up from 50,344 in 2010. In the most likely scenario, Asia will be short about 9,000 pilots a year because it will need about 14,000 but has capacity to train only about 5,000.
Emirates has announced plans to set up a dedicated $109 million flight training center in Dubai that will be able to train up to 400 students at a time. Earlier this year, Canadian flight-training company CAE Inc. said it was expanding its training center in Zhuhai, China that it runs jointly with China Southern Airlines.
But Roei Ganzarski, Boeing’s chief customer officer for flight services, warns that recruiting pilots will be a long-term problem for the aviation industry.
Aviation industry executives say small airlines will be hit hardest because they can’t compete with big, rich carriers such as Dubai-based Emirates, the Middle East’s biggest airline.
Capt. Alan Stealey, senior vice president for flight operations, said Emirates isn’t facing problems recruiting its target of 600 pilots this year, up from about 400 or 450 in past years.
01/12/11 Kelvin Chan/San Antonio