Local pilots may ‘jump’ to foreign airlines

The association official made the remarks in response to the recent visit of Rishworth Aviation, one of the world’s leading crew and human resources firms, to Taiwan to solicit pilots for airlines in the Middle East, India, Vietnam and mainland China.

As many as over 100 domestic pilots attended the recruitment session hosted by Rishworth Aviation, which has provided flight crew and maintenance personnel to major airlines in over 40 countries since 1985.

The association official said that foreign international airlines used to recruit pilots from Taiwan secretly, but Asiana Airlines of South Korea and Emirates Airline of the United Arab Emirates recently came to Taiwan to openly solicit pilots from the island, indicating growing demand for pilots to meet the increasingly busy aviation market.

The latest move by Rishworth Aviation to woo pilots from Taiwan for airlines in India, Vietnam and mainland China, which are all witnessing robust economic development, is the expected reason for the exodus of Taiwanese pilot reaching a peak.

According to statistics compiled by the association, there are now 1,700 pilots working for Taiwan’s airline firms, including 600 foreign pilots and 1,100 domestic pilots.

In the first 10 months of this year, more than 70 pilots, including 50 foreign pilots and 20 domestic pilots, quit their jobs at Taiwan’s airline firms to take other jobs at foreign airline firms.

In December, the association said, there will be more than 50 pilots, serving at Taiwanese airline firms, visiting Dubai to take a three-day exam given by Emirates Airline. This, coupled with Rishworth Aviation’s ongoing recruitment, will prompt more and more Taiwanese pilots to take new jobs at foreign airlines.

Foreign international airlines offer attractive monthly pay of US$7,000 to US$14,000, plus lucrative fringe benefits such as accommodation and insurance.

By contrast, the monthly pay received by domestic pilots is now only two thirds of that received by foreign pilots, and their fringe benefits are also poorer than the latter.

Accordingly, an increasing number of domestic pilots are switching to foreign international airlines.

In response, some aviation safety experts are worried that the growing exodus of pilots will undermine the flight safety, and have called for the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) to take action.

But Chang Kuo-cheng, director general of the CAA, said that he is not worried about the exodus of domestic pilots because Taiwan’s airlines can employ more foreign pilots to cover the shortfall that may be caused by the exodus.

Chang also noted he is glad that domestic pilots have opportunities to work for foreign international airlines because it is a kind of recognition of the quality and ability of domestic pilots.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s top two international airlines showed mixed responses to the recruiting move by Rishworth Aviation. China Airlines said the company will offer a better working environment for domestic pilots, in addition to raising monthly pay for them.

By contrast, Eva Airways said that exchange of pilots among domestic and foreign airlines is nothing unusual and won’t impact the firm at all. A company spokesman said that Taiwan’s airlines used to solicit pilots from foreign countries, and it’s natural for foreign airline firms to come to Taiwan to recruit domestic pilots.

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