Boeing predicts the Asia Pacific region will require over 400,000 new commercial airline pilots and technicians over the next 20 years to support airline fleet modernization and the rapid growth of air travel, according to the company's report released Monday.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang on Saturday called for efforts to cultivate more talents and come up with more research findings to support the development of civil aviation industry.

ATR, the European manufacturer of turboprop aircraft, today announced the opening of a new pilot training center in Paris. The new center, based near Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy, is equipped with a brand new Full Flight Simulator (FFS). This simulator, developed and manufactured by Thales, will allow crew members to be trained on the ATR 72-500. ATR has setup this new center in partnership with SIM Aéro Training, which will house the simulator and all the other teaching tools put in place by ATR, in addition to providing technical support.

In order to maintain a leading position and further develop the North Asia market, Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC), a world-leading manufacturer of business, special mission, light attack and trainer aircraft, today announced the establishment of its new regional headquarters office in Beijing for the North Asia region, which covers mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Furthermore, it has increased its investment in the fast-growing Chinese market by adding local employees and strengthening its sales and marketing network in region.

All day, almost every day, air traffic controller Chris Boughn talks to pilots.

Three people were killed Thursday after a training jet crashed in Hokkaido, the northernmost prefecture of Japan, the public broadcaster NHK said.

Montreal-based flight training giant CAE Inc. is getting busier in the emerging markets. It has won C$60 million of new contracts for full flight simulators to be installed in flight training centres in Russia and China.

Boeing Co., which already provides some pilot training to more than 400 airlines around the globe, has started offering more-realistic and advanced simulator techniques to carriers that lack the size, finances or expertise to develop their own.

A commercial pilot's license (CPL), particularly from a flying school abroad, was considered a guaranteed ticket for a job at any airline five years ago. However, the allure of the aviation industry, which had advertized a shortage of pilots in 2005, has already faded for 5,000 pilots, most of whom are sitting jobless for almost two or three years now.