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"The curricula, equipment and trainers of the Curug school are out of date and are no longer suitable to produce personnel for modern planes with sophisticated engines and computerized equipment," he told the participants of the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)