By Lee Hyo-sik
Airlines here are engaged in a fierce “recruitment war” for pilots as they face difficulty in finding qualified people to operate their growing number of aircraft.
Korean Air, Asiana Airlines and budget carriers have added dozens of planes to their fleets over the past few years to meet surging air travel demand, with more Koreans heading overseas for leisure and other purposes.
Additionally, the country has emerged as a popular tourism destination for Chinese, Japanese and Southeast Asians on the back of its pop culture or “hallyu,” encouraging domestic airlines to increase the number of flights connecting Korea with other Asian countries.
Aviation experts say that a shortage of experienced pilots here will likely persist for the foreseeable future as both flagship carriers and budget airlines are scheduled to put more aircraft into operation over the next few years in anticipation of continued growing travel demand, both inbound and outbound.
They also say it takes years to nurture well-trained pilots, projecting that the competition to secure experienced staff among airline firms will continue to intensify.
The ongoing conflict between Korean Air and Air Busan over the former’s hiring of the latter’s pilots shows how intense the competition is.
On April 22, the low-cost airline affiliated with Asiana Airlines filed a complaint with the government that Korea’s largest airline intentionally targeted its pilots, claiming this constituted an act of unfair trade by abusing its dominant market position.
However, Korean Air said there was nothing wrong with its hiring practices, insisting it has not targeted experienced pilots of any particular airline. Korean Air recently hired four pilots who used to fly for Air Busan. The company said it is entirely up to pilots themselves whether they want to change their jobs or not.
“This incident shows how desperate domestic airline firms are to secure trained pilots in order to operate an increasing number of commercial airplanes. Only about 100 new pilots are currently turned out by two universities each year. But they still need extensive training for months to be deployed into the field,” said a senior official at the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.
The Korea Aerospace University churns out about 40 pilots with 200 hours of flight time each year, while another 40 new pilots graduate from Hanseo University every year.
The state-run Uljin Aviation Training Center, which opened its doors to aspiring pilots in July 2010, will produce its first group of nearly 80 graduates in June.
“Through two four-year university programs and the one-year intensive training course at the state-run center, some 150 new pilots will be supplied to the nation’s rapidly growing aviation industry. But airlines are still likely to continue facing a shortage of well-trained pilots for the time being because it takes time to train junior pilots and put them into the cockpit,” said an official at the ministry’s Office of Civil Aviation.
He also said the Air Force’s decision in 2009 to oblige fighter jet pilots to serve for a minimum of 15 years, up from the previous 13 years, has also limited the supply to the commercial aviation sector.
Korea Air currently has 2,550 pilots on its payroll, operating a fleet of 104 airplanes. It plans to hire 150 more this year as 18 new airplanes will be introduced this year, including one Airbus 380 aircraft.
“We are looking to hire pilots with more than 1,000 hours of flight time from both commercial airlines and the Air Force. We expect the volume of air travel here to increase at an explosive pace due to the growing number of inbound and outbound travelers,”a Korean Air spokesman said.
Asiana Airline, which has 1,176 pilots for a fleet of 74 aircraft, also said it is searching for well-trained pilots all year round.
“Whenever the need arises, we post job openings for new pilots. We operate our own training programs for university graduates who want to be a pilot. We help them acquire a pilot’s license in the U.S. and hire them later,” an Asiana Airline spokesman said.