Given the country’s aviation boom and pilot shortage, you might think this would be a good time to be a pilot in China.
According to an open letter from pilots making the rounds on Chinese media, however, major issues within China’s cockpits may eventually “threaten flight safety.”
Signed by dozens of Air China pilots last month, the letter criticizes unfair salary structures between Chinese and foreign pilots and complains about what the pilots call the airline’s “blind expansion” policy and a “destructive usage” of pilots.
The letter, whose authenticity CNN has not been able to independently verify, says that overwhelming demands on local pilots and more favorable treatment of foreign pilots is leading to extreme friction among flight crews and an unbearable work environment.
The Chinese pilots say they’re hoping a new leave policy will be implemented, given that the current workload has left their physical and mental health “severely damaged”, CNN informs.
