Major airlines in China have lowered recruitment thresholds and increased training budgets to lure more college students and graduates into their cockpits as a pilot shortage spreads across the country's booming aviation industry.
In its latest pilot recruitment announcement, China Eastern Airlines, one of China's three major commercial carriers, doubled its enrollment to more than 300, the largest recruitment in the company's history.
In a recent outlook report, Boeing anticipated there would be 226,000 new commercial airline pilots and 238,000 new aircraft technicians in the Asia-Pacific region through 2034, with China taking the largest share－100,000 pilots and 106,000 technicians.
Spring Airlines, China's first and largest budget carrier, established in 2005, welcomed its 1,000th pilot last month. As pilots are hard to come by in the market, the airline invested 800 million yuan (USD 115 million) to build a pilot training center at China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in Pudong New Area in 2013.
In November, Boeing and HNA Group's Hainan Sky Plumage Flight Training Company entered into an agreement to expand pilot training capabilities in China and help meet the country's growing need for qualified commercial pilots.
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