Updated with latest details on delivery schedule for ATR 42-600 and clarified that the ATR 42-600s are purchased rather than leased. Also clarified details with regards to pilot qualifications sought.
Japanese regional carrier Oriental Air Bridge is buying two new ATR 42-600s and is advertising for personnel.
Oriental Air Bridge in the span of a month has advertised for two general staff, an unspecified number of co-pilots and an unspecified number of maintenance management personnel.
The maintenance management staff as well as the general staff – for the sales office department and the operation management department – will be based in Nagasaki, it says. The airline is headquartered in this southern Japanese city.
The hiring notice says the co-pilots are for De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Dash 8-400s and ATR 42-600s that the carrier plans to have based at Fukuoka or Nagasaki airports.
The spokesperson says the first ATR 42-600 will arrive around in September-November this year and hope to put it in operation around June-August 2023.
The airline is hiring because “we are building a stronger internal structure for the company” in preparation for delivery of the ATR 42-600s, a spokesperson for Oriental Air Bridge says in an emailed response to a query from Smart Aviation Asia Pacific. He says they are looking for Japanese pilots who already have a Japan Civil Aviation Bureau commercial license and instrument navigation certificate, he adds.
Smart Aviation Asia Pacific has previously reported that Oriental Air Bridge will be purchasing two ATR 42-600 aircraft to replace its three aging De Havilland of Canada Dash 8-200 aircraft for its routes to remote islands.
The spokesperson confirms Oriental Air Bridge uses three De Havilland of Canada Dash 8-400 aircraft leased from All Nippon Airways and three De Havilland of Canada Dash 8-200 aircraft.
Picture Source: Oriental Air Bridge
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