Sometimes, it’s a long wait in the wings

PETALING JAYA: The road to becoming a commercial airline pilot is tough, as any cadet pilot will tell you.

Yet, many of the unemployed pilots are confident of landing a job, even if it means waiting for more than a year.

Mohd Zakaria, 24, said his batch of 24 students enrolled in 2008 but only one got a job.

“The industry needs a lot of pilots and finding a job also has to do with the timing of the intake.

“If you graduate and just missed the job intake, you would probably have to wait a year or so before the next window opens.

“But we are confident the industry will continue to grow.

“The risk is there and the competition is stiff.

“That is why we have to shine and stand out from the rest,” he said.

He added that he wanted to become a commercial pilot and did not want to join a flying club.

A 22-year-old cadet pilot said he waited almost a year before landing an interview with a local airline company with no guarantee of a job.

“I had about 20 students in my batch who graduated a year ago but only two or three landed jobs.

“It’s a long process, from the interview to qualifying as a passenger airline pilot,” he said.

Pilot, radio deejay and TV personality Johan Farid Khairuddin, 30, said the misperception among young graduates was that they would land a job with an airline immediately after graduating from flying school.

“Some think that you must fly with a major airline to become a pilot.

“But there are other jobs out there, such as flying instructors or being part of a flying tour.

“Some young pilots have told me they are not employed because they want a major airline opportunity,” he said.

Johan Farid, who has been flying since 2004, said there was a shortage of captains in the industry but a surplus of fresh cadet pilots and flying schools.

A 29-year-old pilot expressed surprise over the high number of flying schools in the country.

“The supply now definitely outweighs the demand.

“It was easier to get jobs several years ago when there were not many graduates or schools,” he said.