China may become the next battlefield for aviation English training organizations, a top executive from an international language teaching school said on Apr. 1.

"The aviation English training market potential is massive in China given the country's fast growing commercial aviation market," said Finian Connolly, CEO of Edgewater College. Founded over 15 years ago in Ireland, Edgewater College specializes in aviation English language teaching.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) required in 2006 that all airline pilots who fly overseas must have a minimum level of English and complete a level-4 test, the minimum acceptable level, before March 2008. Miscommunication is part of the reason for a substantial number of incidents in the aviation industry, Connolly said.

China has more than 14,000 pilots, 8,000 of whom fly on overseas routes, according to a Xinhua report. That means these pilots, besides flying airplanes, have to grapple with a tougher language problem as many Chinese pilots who used to serve the military speak little or even no English.

"The English proficiency level of Chinese pilots is low. But that is not an exception; we have seen this in other countries as well," Connolly said.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the industry regulator, has given training licenses to four organizations, including Edgewater College. The other three are aviation universities in China.

Edgewater College clinched an order last year from Air China to train 350 pilots in five Chinese cities. The training is part of the Marco Polo Sino-European Aviation Training Solutions, a program unveiled last year by a number of European companies and institutions, including Airbus and the European Academy of Aviation Safety, to help support the safety and operational efficiency of the Chinese civil and general aviation industry.