Pilot school sued for $1 million by airline

A Beijing-based private aviation school was sued yesterday for more than 7 million yuan after violating a contract to train pilots from a state-owned airline.

At a court hearing at Xicheng district court, Beijing PanAm International Academy was ordered to return the 3.8 million yuan training fees and pay another 3.6 million yuan in penalties to China Postal Airlines, which claimed the school failed to graduate 10 of its pilots by October 2007.

However, the first private pilot school in China failed to show at the hearing yesterday. Neither the academy's representative nor its lawyer were present. The judge held the hearing and reviewed claims from the plaintiff's lawyers. The judge did not give any sentence at the end of the hearing, but required more information from the defendant.