China's Burgeoning Airline Industry Siren Call To New Pilots

As legacy airlines the world over continue to slump, some threatened with financial dissolution, there is a bright and shining spot on the map -- and it's centered on China.

China's economy is on fire, growing at a remarkable rate, fueling the need for more and more air transportation capacity.

Take the case of Daniela Schmidt, a newly-minted commercial pilot from Holland who figured her ambition to fly with the big boys was toast after Swiss Air went bankrupt. But then, according to the Chinese business publication, The Standard, Daniela found new life for her dreams in northern Tianjin Province.

"I didn't think I could find work in China," she told The Standard after following her Dutch boyfriend to China. After all, she didn't speak the language and knew no one other than her beau. "But China is giving me an opportunity to fly that I wouldn't have otherwise."

Specifically, she's going to work for Okay Airlines, a private start-up operation competing with the country's three state airlines.

"China is short of captains and co-pilots. We offer young foreign pilots an opportunity to grow," Okay chairman and president Liu Jieyin told The Standard. He believes China will
need about 8,000 pilots over the next decade.

Like the other six foreign pilots recently hired by Okay, Daniela obtained her initial training back home. But none of them could find a decent flying job until they moved to China. "A lot of trained pilots in the West can't find an opportunity to put some experience under their belt, while we in China are short of co-pilots, captains and even technicians," Liu said.

They won't get rich -- at least, not by Western standards. The average new pilot at Okay, which now has just six Boeing 737s in its fleet, is about $2400 a month. But most young pilots will tell you, it's about the flying, not the money.

"I would fly for less, as long as I can fly," Daniela told the Chinese paper. "It's been my goal since I have been 15."

FMI: www.caac.cn.net