Lufthansa and Chinese Airlines Announce the Need for More Pilots

Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, LH Cargo and Germanwings say they will need about 425 additional pilots in 2008 just to meet the airlines’ growing demand. This includes 315 pilots for the passenger segments alone.

Currently, about 4,500 pilots fly for these three German sister carriers. Subsidiary LFT trained over 200 new pilots during the past two years, but they are still looking for an additional 200 pilots. LH doubled its request for new pilots from 120 in 2004 and 2005 to 300 in 2007.  They expect to need an additional 360 pilots by the end of 2008.

Shanghai-based Spring Airlines has indicated they will be slowing development unless they can resolve their pilot shortage. Spokesperson Zhang Lei said the airline was suffering from a pilot shortage and was therefore looking to decelerate fleet expansion.

Juneyao Airlines, also Shanghai-based, said they will hire foreign pilots to accommodate fleet expansion.