There's a lucrative new market for American airline pilots looking for work or a change of pace: China.
Twelve major Chinese airlines will be recruiting Sunday in Las Vegas during a job fair staged by Pan Am International Flight Academy in Henderson and WASINC International, China's largest pilot leasing company.
And if you wonder why American pilots would care, consider this: One of the airlines at the job fair, Shenzhen, promised a starting salary of $175,000 a year, while the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average U.S. pilot makes $116,000.
The local job fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the flight academy, 1771 Whitney Mesa Drive, and will include representatives from Air China, Donghai, Jetstar Asia, Ok Air, Shenzhen, Skymark and Tianjin, among others.
WASINC conducted a similar job fair in Miami, one of American Airlines' largest international hubs, Thursday and Friday.
A Miami Herald report Friday said 1,100 people registered for the South Florida job fair and that an executive from Shenzhen Airlines said he had a quota to hire 46 pilots, but would take "as many as we can get."
Based on the pace of growth of the last three decades, the Chinese aviation industry is expected to surpass the United States' by 2020.
Potential participants of the job fair include pilots from American Airlines. The company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing has prompted concerns that layoffs and pay cuts could be coming as airline and union representatives begin negotiating contract amendments in American's financial reorganization.
The Pan Am International Flight Academy has simulators for MD-80 and Boeing 737 aircraft and offers classes for pilots, flight attendants, dispatchers and aircraft maintenance workers.