Airlines, flight schools try to lure pilots with cheaper-or free-training

In 2014, Danny Perna found himself caught up in the global shortage of pilots that has vexed airlines from China to the US. For the first time in 15 years, the founder of Epic Flight Academy in Florida couldn't find enough trained US pilots to be flight instructors. Offering sign-on bonuses of up to US$10,000 did not help, he said. Eventually they decided to advertise a sponsorship program to partially fund pilot cadets' training. "Basically once we started to fund training then it satisfied the pilot shortage," he said. His realisation is hitting other airlines and flight schools too, as growing competition across the world for a shrinking pool of trained pilots pushes up salaries and prevents carriers from operating at full capacity. Pilots say the burden on cadets to pay for their flight training has been a key reason why enrolment has plummeted at flight schools. <br/>