Spring is in the air for pilots who lost jobs at Spanair

BEIJING - A month after Spanish carrier Spanair SA filed for voluntary bankruptcy, Shen Wei, deputy general manager of Spring Airlines, hopped on a plane to Spain last week, hoping to recruit experienced pilots who had lost their jobs.

After holding interviews, he made offers to 30 foreign captains at once. He expects that some might start working as early as the second half of this year.

"The company will add seven to eight new planes to its fleet by next year, but our own pilots won't be qualified to become captains until 2015," he said. "Foreign pilots are a good supplement."