Pilot shortage dire, says training centre

The Thai aviation industry is suffering a serious shortage of commercial airline pilots and needs at least 400 more each year, according to the Bangkok Aviation Centre (BAC), a leading private pilot training and flight academy.

Chief executive officer Piya Tregalnon said there are only about 3,000 pilots employed by Thai-registered airlines and new recruits are needed to serve between 20 to 30 new aircraft that take flight each year.

However, aviation training schools in the country can produce only 200 new pilots each year, prompting several airlines to employ foreign pilots, Mr Piya said.

“Airline pilots earn a high income. Some pilots who have experience or flight captains can earn more than 400,000 baht a month, while pilots on foreign airlines earn more than 800,000 baht per month,” Mr Piya said.

He stressed the need to step up efforts to train pilots to serve international airlines, adding women can also be trained as pilots.

Mr Piya said aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus have estimated that about 20,000 new aircraft will be rolled out over the next 15 years as the industry expands, which will require the recruitment of at least 460,000 new pilots, or about 9,000 per year.

Competition among airlines to get new pilots to fly their aircraft will intensify if there are not enough new pilots being trained to enter the industry, Mr Piya said.

Currently, the BAC trains about 180 pilots a year, or about 90% of all new pilots across the country.

Those who want to enrol at the BAC must obtain a bachelor’s degree. Training takes one year for a fee of 2.5 million baht.

After training, student pilots will spend another 12 months learning to fly commercial aircraft, which involves another 2 million baht in costs.

When completing the course, graduates will spend some time as co-pilots to build up experience before proceeding to become a captain, Mr Piya said.

The Civil Aviation Training Centre, a state enterprise under the Transport Ministry, also offers pilot training.

Thai AirAsia chief executive officer Tassapol Bijleveld said the airline has signed an agreement to work with the BAC to train 70 new pilots to handle the airline’s expansion as it takes on a bigger fleet.

Thai AirAsia plans to acquire five new aeroplanes each year until 2018, Mr Tassapol said.