Indonesian aviation industry in dire needs of skilled workers
Indonesian aviation industry in dire needs of skilled workers
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will likely fail to provide the
additional 15,000 skilled personnel demanded by its own civil
aviation industry in the newly begun Sixth Five Year Development
Plan (Repelita VI) period, an official says.
The secretary of the Directorate General of Air Transportation
of the Ministry of Transportation, T.H. Matondang, said in a two-
day seminar here yesterday that private-sector companies,
therefore, are invited to get involved in the management of
education and training for civil aviation personnel.
He explained that Indonesia, in order to meet the rapidly
increasing demand for airline services, will need an additional
1,185 pilots, 3,423 aircraft maintenance technicians, 5,295
personnel for aircraft regulation security, 950 electronic and
electrical technicians, 2,886 managerial trainers and 2,075
training technicians in the Repelita VI period.
The country current has 2,512 pilots, 2,710 aircraft
maintenance technicians, 913 personnel for aircraft regulation
security, 335 electronic and electrical technicians, 1,665
managerial trainers and 576 training technicians, said
Matondang.
He acknowledged that the state-owned Curug civil aviation
school in Tangerang, West Java, where most Indonesian aviation
personnel have been trained, is apparently inadequate to produce
the additional personnel demanded.
"The curricula, equipment and trainers of the Curug school are
out of date and are no longer suitable to produce personnel for
modern planes with sophisticated engines and computerized
equipment," he told the participants of the seminar sponsored by
the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and the Ministry of
Transportation.
He said that airlines using new jet aircraft in their fleets,
therefore, have been forced to train their personnel in overseas
schools.
H.C. Dubey, chief technical adviser of UNDP projects on civil
aviation, said that air traffic in Indonesia, both domestic and
internationally, is likely to grow by 9.1 percent to 15 million
people this year, by 19.21 percent next year, by 9.21 percent in
1996, by 9.34 percent in 1997 and a further 9.40 percent in 1988.
(yns)