Russian air carriers will have to find a domestic solution to what they say is a crisis in the recruitment of pilots after suggestions they be allowed to hire experienced foreign pilots got a cool response from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Over the past decade, the deficit of pilots in Russia has become so urgent that it is hampering the potential growth of the national market of commercial aviation, but Putin is right to prevent foreigners from pushing young Russian pilots out of the cockpit, experts say.
The airlines' proposal was aired at a cabinet meeting on Thursday by Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. "Don't attract skilled labor, attract trainers and teachers to prepare our pilots," the prime minister responded.
"For the last five-to-seven years, Russian air carriers have been constantly complaining that the hour is approaching when they will be left without pilots," says Russian aviation expert Roman Gusarov, the head of the Avia.ru portal.
The country needs at least 700-800 pilots a year, according to Yevgeny Bachurin, the former head of Russian air transport regulator Rosaviatsiya. There are currently about 10,000 commercial pilots in Russia, but an estimated 1,000 are lost every year through retirement or finding work abroad.
Experts say the shortage of pilots has arisen for two reasons: First, Russian air carriers have almost completely ditched home-made jets and switched to western aircraft. "In order to fly a western aircraft, pilots have to pass re-training; in its turn, to pass this re-training pilots have to meet two requirements: be younger than 50 years of age and have fluent English-language skills. Needless to say, the majority of pilots from the older generation do not match these criteria," says Oleg Smirnov, president of the Partner for Civil Aviation Foundation.
Second, Russia's flight schools are not producing sufficient number of young pilots. On average, Russia's state-run training system produces 650 pilots over a course of three to five years, falling well short of demand.
"Russia's flight schools lack training simulators and experienced trainers, companies have to invest money in additional training for the rookies," Smirnov says, adding that training a commercial pilot in Russia costs twice as much as in Europe or the United States.
"It all comes round to the government, it neither allows air companies to hire foreign professionals, nor prepares enough Russian pilots," Gusarov said. "It is a vicious circle and the companies are locked helpless in it."
"The government should better fund the national flight schools and increase the number of training seats for pilots," Vitaly Korenyugin, press secretary for Russia's SkyExpress airline said, adding that such reform would be the only solution to the existing crisis.
Gusarov agrees: "I think that, first of all, we should increase the number of young pilots trained at home."
MOSCOW, February 17 (RIA Novosti, Tsvetelina Miteva)
