Airlines turn their noses up at Thai pilots

Airlines turn their noses up at Thai pilots

Thai pilots are failing to find work after graduation despite high global demand in the aviation industry, the Civil Aviation Training Centre president said yesterday.

International airline operators are competing to offer jobs to pilots, but "our pilots find no jobs", according to Rear Admiral Piya Atmungkun.

Between 600 and 700 newly graduated pilots are struggling to secure seats in cockpits, he said.

Aviation programmes and pilot training schools have mushroomed, but many fail to meet international standards, according to RAdm Piya.

New pilots are being churned out continually without information on how many of them are actually employable by airline companies. This has led to an oversupply of pilots who aren't up to scratch, he said.

"It's true there is a scarcity of pilots, but that demand is for experienced, not new, pilots, RAdm Piya said.

He believes a plan to establish a "city of aviation" in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) will only increase the supply of domestic aviation personnel.

"Even before the EEC officially opens, there is already a high number of aviation graduates," RAdm Piya said.

"But companies are not employing them because they are not certified according to international standards."

One solution, according to RAdm Piya, is a suggestion by the UN-based International Civil Aviation Organisation that Thailand should set up an aviation centre of excellence in the EEC, which would also enrol students from abroad.

If given the green light, the new centre would offer high-quality training at a more affordable price than Singapore, he said.

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