$300,000 Pilot Jobs Drying Up in China After Boeing Grounding

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...eing-grounding

Expatriate pilots flying Boeing Co.’s most popular plane for Chinese airlines
used to be able to take their pick from dozens of jobs paying $300,000 plus
perks thanks to a shortage of experienced aviators there. The grounding of the
737 Max has changed that.

Chinese carriers have largely stopped hiring foreign pilots for Boeing’s main
narrow-bodied jet, nine months after two crashes led to the grounding of the
best-selling 737 Max, according to recruitment agencies. Airlines in China’s
booming aviation market had been among the most enthusiastic buyers of the
plane, accounting for 20% of a global fleet that now sits idle.

Chinese airlines still pay above-market wages but the lengthy grounding has hit
a swath of roles paying multiple times the median salary of a commercial pilot
in the U.S. With no clear time-line for the Max’s reinstatement after two lethal
crashes, demand for expat pilots of any 737 variant in China has slowed to a
trickle. Only a handful of the country’s airlines are recruiting for such jobs
now.

“We’ve seen airlines suspend recruitment of 737 pilots, period,” said Andre
Allard, founder and president of AeroPersonnel Global Inc., a Montreal-based
pilot-recruitment agency that has worked in China since 2007. “Many of these
airlines had the Max on order. That evidently changed their plans.”

China’s growing middle class has put the country on track to be the world’s
biggest aviation market in the coming next decade. For many local airlines,
short-haul workhorses like the 737 became the aircraft of choice in the travel
frenzy. But China has long struggled to produce enough pilots on its own: By the
end of 2016, Chinese carriers had more than 1,000 foreigners in their cockpits,
double the number in 2010.

The decline in demand for overseas 737 pilots leaves many of the world’s
best-paid flying jobs, which come with a suite of perks such as signing bonuses,
education allowances and free flights, to foreign Airbus SE skippers who try
their hand in China.

Triple Whammy

Boeing is under intense scrutiny following the two disasters that killed 346
people. In October last year, a Lion Air flight plunged into the sea shortly
after taking off from Jakarta, and in March an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed
near Addis Ababa.

It’s not just those Max tragedies weighing on the sector. China’s economy is
slowing, and the country is locked in a trade war with the U.S. that’s into its
second year. As an American aerospace manufacturer, Chicago-based Boeing has
found itself in the middle of the dispute.

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China was the first major jurisdiction to ground the Max plane, which has been
banned from flying since March as Boeing tries to fix a flight-control system
implicated in both crashes. The U.S. aviation regulator said in December it
won’t complete the aircraft’s required approvals until 2020. Even then, the Max
could take months to reach airlines: European low-cost carrier Ryanair Holdings
Plc doesn’t expect deliveries before May.

Recruiter Wasinc International says the crisis at Boeing has spread to change
the fortunes of aviators in China. Only seven or eight of the 28 Chinese
airlines on Wasinc’s books are actually hiring pilots, said the company’s
president, Dave Ross.

“Most of them are overstaffed because of the grounding of the Max,” Ross said by
phone from Las Vegas. Just one or two are interested in 737 pilots, he said.

A Boeing spokesman declined to comment on demand for foreign 737 pilots in
China. Of the country’s big three carriers, China Eastern Airlines Co. declined
to comment, while Air China Ltd. and China Southern Airlines Co. didn’t respond
to requests for comment.

Low-cost carrier China United Airlines, a unit of China Eastern, is still in the
market for pilots, offering $288,000 a year to 737 captains on three-year
contracts, according to Wasinc’s website. But that’s the site’s first ad for 737
pilots in China since July. The package includes a monthly education allowance
of $1,000 for children in Chinese schools.

The drought’s unlikely to end until the Max is cleared by regulators and Boeing
can resume deliveries. Chinese buyers have received 76 of the jets so far, and
are due to receive 181 more, according to data on Boeing’s website.

While there’s less immediate need for 737 pilots in China, appetite for captains
of many Airbus models is unabated, according to both Wasinc and AeroPersonnel.





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"Miloch" wrote in message ...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...eing-grounding

Expatriate pilots flying Boeing Co.’s most popular plane for Chinese
airlines used to be able to take their pick from dozens of jobs paying
$300,000 plus perks thanks to a shortage of experienced aviators there.
The grounding of the 737 Max has changed that.

They'll get used to C919s soon enough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U51ghTRlgfs