Jobless pilots in Pakistan

[DREAM LINER]

Jobless pilots
From the Newspaper
Published Jul 17, 2014 05:31am

WITH the aviation industry in a recession, hundreds of young men who spent millions of rupees to undergo courses to become commercial pilots are unemployed and broke.

A course culminating in a commercial pilot’s licence (CPL) could cost up to Rs4m to 5m in flying schools in Pakistan and abroad. About 7,000 pilots are without jobs as airlines are facing increased fuel costs, and fewer customers have shed aircraft and routes, and more importantly staff, including pilots.

That has turned many aspiring pilots to dust, landing them in a debt trap, with many landed with huge loans from banks. To get a CPL, aspirants have to put in 250 hours of flying and class hours in a process that can stretch to three years, if not more.

While the basic training would cost over Rs4m, conversion training on larger aircraft like Boeing would cost another Rs2m or more.

Interest in flying schools was sparked off by the boom in the aviation industry in 2003 onwards when new airlines came up, raising the requirements for pilots. However, in 2007, oil prices went up, and the situation was compounded by recession.

One of the CPL holders says that he got trained in America, spending nearly Rs7m. But most airlines want experienced pilots with at least a year’s experience.

According to a retired PIA pilot, about 7,000 pilots, who have commercial flying licences, are unemployed. Many young pilots from middle class families have taken huge loans for their training and are unable to repay.

Many pilots have taken up other jobs, and some have started their own businesses, while the Civil Aviation Authority is not doing anything about it.

Another pilot with a local private airline says any new airline would prefer experienced pilots. One new airline has just recruited about 60 to 80 pilots from the airline he belonged to. It is a bad phase for the newcomers, and it might take another two years for things to settle down.

I request the CAA to help the new pilots get jobs in airlines.

Asim Illahi Shaikh
http://www.dawn.com/news/1119674

[Amaad Lone]

millions of Pakistanis are jobless maybe somebody should help them find a job.

Nobody told these middle class people to take loans for their CPLs.

CAA is to maintain and run airports, not find jobs for 250 hour CPL holders.

[sheeraz]

I agree with Ammad completely

On another related topic to this, we can thank overpopulation for all this. Millions of new Pakistanis are hitting the job market every year and you can well imagine if such an advance category such as pilots are having difficulty than think about MBAs and other degree holders.

[smhusain_1]

"Rock bottom pay and benefits offered by regional airlines are failing to attract pilots and pushing potential new ones to other professions. Why would pilots choose to leave (or never to enter) the airline piloting profession? First year pilots make between $14,000 and $23,000 at some of the lowest-paying airlines. Is it a surprise to anyone that this level of compensation is not attractive, particularly when many other occupations offer better starting pay and benefits along with promising career paths? We must provide our professional pilots with pay and benefits that are commensurate with the training, experience and education that the flying public demands."
Capt. Lee Moak,
ALPA, AWST Sept 15, 2014

"Large numbers of pilots are in training for commercial pilot certificates with multi-engine and instrument ratings in the U.S.—but 80% of them are foreign citizens, destined for jobs abroad."

Capts.Tim Komberec, Stan Bernstein, John Hazlet—Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association
AWST Oct 13, 2014

This is what the news is regarding pilot shortage. A shortage of experienced copilots is predicted or maybe is ongoing because of regulatory changes which necessitated increase in flying hours together with an ATP and not CPL to fill the copilot's seat for scheduled carriers. The pay according to the reports is dismal in the Regional Airline environment, i.e. the start up stage for a newly hired copilots on the feeder routes here in USA. Personally I feel that the increase in standards were necessary in view of what the FAA and NTSB heard of the pilot performance and the accident statistics in the past four to five years.

The airline hiring would be very unpredictable in Pakistan in view of the economic situation prevailing in the major carriers. A person aspiring for a piloting job would have to do a little homework and get information regarding the market instead of blindly committing such a vast amount of money just because a loan could be procured. Yes the scheduled carriers would require an experienced copilot instead of a raw person with basic criteria.

Above all, the qualifications are never lost and can be renewed when there is demand, so the person should look for an allied occupation till the wait is over.

[Guru]

Jobless pilots
From the Newspaper
Published Jul 17, 2014 05:31am

About 7,000 pilots are without jobs as airlines are facing increased fuel costs

According to a retired PIA pilot, about 7,000 pilots, who have commercial flying licences, are unemployed.

To get a CPL, aspirants have to put in 250 hours of flying

I agree the pilot job situation is not very rosy in Pakistan at the moment; nonetheless, the newspapers must try and state facts and not just hearsay. I 'd like to say the following:

1. Pakistan CAA has issued less than 4000 CPLs till today and considering for a moment that all of them are jobless, I don't know from where these other 3000 plus have come.
2. I 'd like to meet the PIA pilot who says that 7000 pilots are unemployed.
3. You need to fly a total of 190 hours to get CPL/IR in Pakistan. This figure of 250 hours must have been quoted to the newspaper by someone who probably knew just about the FAA licence; they require 250 hours.

[smhusain_1]

This should be read with my other submission on the topic. Here are some facts:
Not everyone is cut out to be a professional pilot. Gaining a professional licence and putting it to commercial use requires a continuous effort even if the end licence, the ATPL, has been acquired. A small percentage will eventually make it to the top, i.e. an airline command. But even here there are many pitfalls as in every other profession. You may be able to get a command but may not be able to hold it for long. The reasons are numerous from professional failing to medical unfitness( temporary or permanent).
There are many allied fields which have opened up and which offer an equal opportunity. You can acquire graduation in business aviation studies which may set you up in the executive side of management, study aeronautical engineering aspects, flight dispatch and etc. The field is vast because an airline is more than just pilots.
I hope our young would look at the big picture and not get disheartened just because an airline has turned them down as an employee for now. For myself, I would have never made it out as a pilot if God had not granted me an opening in 1966 through the PIA Flying Training Academy.

[Squawk_1200]

The Dawn newspaper reporter copied this article from some United States newspaper , this was an old article published in the USA Today few years ago , he/ she just changed few words and departments and colored it as Pakistan aviation job situation , figures dont apply to Pakistan.

[TAILWIND]

The Dawn newspaper reporter copied this article from some United States newspaper , this was an old article published in the USA Today few years ago , he/ she just changed few words and departments and colored it as Pakistan aviation job situation , figures dont apply to Pakistan.

May be the journalist has nothing better to report, so why not 'ctrl C' and then 'ctrl V'