中国飞行员供不应求

With China's travel numbers and aviation industry expanding annually, Chinese pilots had always been in high demand.
According to officials from the China Air Transport Association, it takes almost ten years to train a pilot, at a cost of more than 2 million yuan or more than US$326,000.

A new accord states that if the pilot switches out of his job, his new employer should compensate for the money the previous company paid to train the pilot.

"The newly signed accord doesn’t mean pilots are not allowed to change jobs. It should be organized. And the company who wants to employ the pilots should act in a legal way," said Nie Ying, China National Aviation Holding Company.

China ranks second in the world behind the US in civil aviation transport and requires an expanding pool of pilots to staff the growing industry.

But numbers have not kept up. In 2013, the number of pilots in the US stood at nearly 600,000. China has only 35,000.

"Over the past 20 years, China has always fallen short when it comes to number of pilots. Constant turnover means a pilot is less familiar with the route and plane, compromising on air safety. Sometimes plane crashes are caused by unqualified pilots who are new to the company," said Li Jun, China Air Transport Association.
Meanwhile, the past few years have witnessed a growing number of labor disputes cases.

In September, a pilot sued the flight inspection center of Civil Aviation Administration of China and demanded termination of the labor contract.The organization refused, saying pilots are in pressing demand. More than 800 pilots have applied to quit their jobs, including captains.