Currently, Russian pilots are one of the most sought after on the Chinese market. According to representatives of the Chinese airlines, the main competitive advantages of Russian pilots are their excellent flight technique honed by long-term practice in Russian airlines, which are distinguished by a special corporate culture and discipline.
According to aviation experts, over the next 10-20 years, China will need 4 —5,000 aircraft pilots each year. In addition to that, China has also become the world's largest buyer of passenger aircraft Airbus and Boeing.
With such a rapid development, China is facing an acute shortage of experienced flight captains.
“In Chengdu Airlines there are 21 pilots from Russia, so they are accounting for 36 percent of all the pilots in the company. Russian pilots have a good command of the flight technique, and they can communicate effectively in the team. We hope to attract as many Russian pilots as possible,” Wang Ping from Chengdu Airlines told Sputnik correspondent in an interview.
He further said that compared to Europeans, Americans and South Americans, “Russians possess superior flight technique.”
One such Russian pilot who currently works for the Chinese airline is Mark Khokhlov. He has been working with Chengdu Airlines for about a year. Before that, he was the captain of Russian S7 airlines.
“The [Chengdu] airline was introduced to me by one of my colleagues. I am very pleased with my choice. It offers comfortable conditions and work schedule. I work for six weeks and then I’m off for four weeks, so I can spend my holidays in Russia or elsewhere,” Khokhlov said.
He said that the pay is quite high and his Chinese counterparts are all on good terms with the Russian pilots so the work environment is friendly as well.
“A lot of pilots from Russia are working in Hainan and Sichuan Airlines. This is an opportunity to learn to operate a large type of aircraft. In China, the air transportation market is developing very powerfully,” Khokhlov added.
One of Boeing's latest forecast reports suggests that in the next 20 years, Chinese aircraft manufacturers, such as China Southern Airlines, Air China, etc., will need about 6,330 new aircraft with a total value of about $950 billion, which is 17% of the global demand for aircraft.
That means that China will bypass the US and become the world's largest market for aircraft and tourism.
Currently, China holds second place in the market of aviation development. Steven Turner, chairman of the Wasinc recruiting company, which deals with hiring pilots for Chinese airlines, said that despite the fact that the Chinese have significantly increased the number of pilots working for the Chinese airlines, it is still not quite enough to meet the rapidly developing Chinese market.
“We have been operating in the Chinese market for 10 years; about 50-60 pilots from Russia are working in the Chinese airlines. For some time, Chinese airlines could not hire pilots from Russia because they did not have access to their so-called history,” Turner said.
He further added that, “Since 2015, however, they [Chinese airlines] began to receive pilots from Russia and realized that Russian pilots are highly qualified, not only from the point of view of technical skills but also in terms of their ability to communicate well in a team setting.
In Turner’s opinion, Russia is a priority market. The company has also started hiring female pilots now.
