The Head of the Human Resources Development Agency of Transportation Ministry, Wahyu Utomo, while inaugurating transport officers at the Aviation High School (STP) Indonesia Curug, Tangerang, on Thursday, said the shortfall was calculated based on the number of new aircraft bought each year, which is about 70 aircraft.
"One aircraft has at least five crew members, so it comes to about 700, but this does not signal retirement for them," he said.
STIP Curug itself has bought 51 training aircraft, either with a single engine, multiple engines, and helicopters that require a lot of instructors.
Thus, Utomo said, a lot of airlines need to hire foreign pilots to cover their needs.
"Their goal is not only to meet domestic demand, but also the "fight" (struggle) in ASEAN in the framework of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)," he said.
However, he also termed the condition as ironic because many graduates are not absorbed, which is still in the range of 60 percent.
According to him, a number of graduate pilots are not absorbed; one of the pilots who recently graduated (fresh graduates) wanted to fly a Boeing or an Airbus and reluctantly flew small aircraft, such as an ATR.
Therefore, he said the Transportation Ministry is proposing phasing the pilot's career path in order to make them fly a small plane before flying a medium-bodied or wide-bodied aircraft.
He described the proposal being aimed at the pilot garnering experience and honing new skills by acquiring pascalulus.
Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi welcomed the proposal and said it should be up for further discussion.
"I appealed to the graduates of Aviation High School Indonesia Curug, that the first time after they graduate, they do not have to fly a jet, for example, fly an ATR flight first for many years, which is really mature," he said.
In addition to pilots, according to him, other personnel, such as air traffic control (ATC), as well as in other sectors, such as land and sea, are also needed.
"If the answer about the pilot dilemma indeed, is said to be less so less, say more yes more, because I am conveying why it happened because the pilot needed verification," he said.
Editor: Ade P Marboen
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
