All are experienced pilots who used to work for Brazil's bankrupt national airline Varig, said a human resource staff member with Shenzhen Airlines.

"Including the pilots we already recruited from Russia and Europe, the number of foreign pilots will reach one-fifth or more than 100 of the total pilots working for our airline," a staff member who would only reveal his surname, Ren, said in a phone interview with China Daily.

Twenty of the Brazilian pilots already arrived in China, and five have begun work, he said.

The rest will arrive soon, and they need to pass tests and get licences from the General Administration of Civil Aviation (CAAC), he said.

Founded in 1992, Shenzhen Airlines has a fleet of 32 Boeing and three Airbus planes. According to its website, it employs 5,100 people and flies 80 domestic and international routes.

Like other Chinese airlines, it suffered from a shortage of experienced pilots. So after it heard about Varig's bankruptcy, Shenzhen Airlines officials went to Brazil to recruit pilots.

"With the newly added blood, the current demand for pilots is expected to be satisfied," Ren said.

After Shenzhen Airlines' officials arrived in Brazil two months ago, they offered the Brazilian pilots a salary of US$8,000, which is "higher than their Chinese counterparts," Ren said.

The average annual income of a Chinese airplane captain is 400,000 yuan (US$50,000), or US$4,170 per month.

"But the company does not need to pay for training and other expenses, which airlines must pay for the domestic pilots they recruit," he said, adding that the deal was a win-win situation.

The 20 pilots who are already in China have received their licences from CAAC and are currently taking Chinese language courses, according to a report in Beijing Daily yesterday.

After two decades of dynamic growth, China has become one of the largest aviation markets in the world and is still growing.

According to predictions, by 2010, the number of passenger aircraft in China will increase by 80 per cent to 1,250.

If these predictions prove accurate, China will need 6,500 new pilots, which is far beyond the capacity of the country's pilot training system.

Faced with an acute shortage of pilots, many Chinese airlines are looking overseas.

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