Earning Their Wings

　　As Africa continues to look toward the East， thenumber of pilots heading to China for training is on theincrease.

　　In addition to commercial pilots， this includes pilotsin the military， who are winging their way to high rankingmilitary academies in China.

　　According to figures from the Kenyan Ministry of Transport，this year alone， the country has sent about 200 pilotsto be trained in China， in addition to a handful of others onrefresher courses.

　　“We as a region are seeing the relationship with Chinaimprove and there are a lot of expectations between Chinaand the region. More opportunities will open doors forEast Africa and China. With investments of more than $4billion in Kenya alone this year，” Titus Naikuni， CEO of KenyaAirways， told ChinAfrica.

　　“There is an increase in demand for pilots in the regionas the aviation industry continues to grow. We at KenyaAirways have some of the best pilots in Africa who havetrained in China，” Naikuni said.

　　Sun Rise Flight Academy has the largest concentrationof pilots from the East Africa region. A growing numberof airlines are also partnering with Chinese institutions onrefresher courses. “I can tell you this is a good idea. We arewitnessing less incidences of airplane crashes and betterservice for our clients，” Naikuni said.

　　Pilots from Tanzania have also been trained in Chinaas the Chinese continue to ramp up investment in thecountry. Recently， Chinese contractors renovated JuliusNyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. Despite theincreased cross-cultural exchanges， some critics fear thatAfrica may be affected by brain drain， as some of the mosttalented pilots and other professionals opt for other opportunitiesafter advanced training.

　　“There is a lot to lose in coming years as the brain drainproblem of pilots will be felt. There is great need of skilledpilots but we are now losing them to other countries. Weneed to have programs that give our pilots motivationto continue working here，” said Samson Munywoki， asociology lecturer from the United States InternationalUniversity in Nairobi.

　　Despite the threat that brain drain poses tothe region， many Kenyan pilots trained in Chinahave returned home to start their own flightservice businesses， according to the KenyanMinistry of Transport. In the last three years， morethan 40 pilots have returned to Kenya from Chinaand another 23 Tanzanian pilots have returned totheir home country after training.

　　The cooperation doesn’t stop with commercial pilots.China and Kenya have also inked agreements concerningKenya’s air force pilots. Next year， Kenya plans to send 200air force pilots to China for refresher courses， according toJulius Karangi， head of staff of the Kenya Defence Forces.“We need to improve our already powerful air force tobe even better. We believe China has the answer to ourneeds and queries，” Karangi told ChinAfrica.

　　Ethiopia remains the best equipped and most skilled airforce in the region and has so far not shown any interest inpilot training in China. South Sudan is already in talks withChina while Uganda has jump started programs to trainits pilots in China. As far as other East Africans countries，Rwanda and Burundi have not expressed any interest intraining their pilots in China but Malawi has expressedsome interest. So far， Kenya has the largest concentrationin East Africa of pilots receiving training in China.“China is a friend of the region. Both sides are benefitinga lot economically，” Karangi said.

　　According to the Ministry of Transport， the Kenyanprivate sector needs about 200 new pilots per year as theaviation industry continues to expand in terms of aviationcompanies and customer base.

　　On the converse AVIC-International Flight TrainingAcademy (AIFA) based in George， SouthAfrica， receives most of its pilots from NUAAInternationalFlying Academy (NAFA)， a jointventure company established in China and investedby Nanjing University of Aeronauticsand Astronautics (NUAA). AIFA is committedto establishing a quasi-military， professional，international training organization. Accordingto the AIFA website， the training center willincrease its capacity of Chinese pilot cadets to400 by 2015.