Two pilots,one from Australia and the other from Ireland,joined Hainan Airlines this week,thus becoming the first two foreign pilots to be recruited by a Chinese airline company after the country's accession to the World Trade Organization.

The two pilots,Gray and Thomas,had sat through international standard exams and received one-month training before they started piloting on air routes from Sanya to Seoul and Kuala Lumpur respectively,Thursday's Beijing Morning Post reported.

Their salaries will be determined in line with international standard,the newspaper quoted a source from Hainan Airlines.

The company plans to recruit more pilots and other professionals from overseas,in a bid to merge with the international aviation market in the post-WTO scenario,an executive of Hainan Airlines was quoted as saying.

Hainan Airlines,based in Haikou,capital of south China's Hainan Province,called the attention of China's aviation industry last year by recruiting foreign air hostesses.

( eastday.com December 27, 2001)