Chinese airlines employed 1,332 foreigners as flight captains as of the end of last year, an increase of 33 percent over 2016, according to an aviation industry report.

 

一项航空报告显示，2017年底中国航空公司雇佣了1332名外籍航班机长，比2016年人数增长33%。

 

The captains came from 56 countries, with South Korea ranking first with 307, followed by Russia, Brazil and the United States, according to the Chinese Civil Aviation Pilot Development report released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

 

The proportion of foreign captains among all captains employed by Chinese airlines also jumped in recent years-from 4.5 percent in 2015 to 8.2 percent in 2017, the report said.

 

As of Dec 12, the administration had issued pilot's certificates to 3,699 foreign citizens, with 3,168 of those being airline transport pilot certificates, the basic requirement for employment by a Chinese carrier, the report said.

 

"Foreign pilots have contributed a lot to the improvement of China's civil aviation. However, they are getting older, a problem that should not be neglected by the airlines," the CAAC said.