Local air carriers are set to recruit more pilots and flight attendants, thanks to the booming traveling market, an executive of a local job bank said Sunday. In a presentation to people interested in working as flight attendants or pilots, Ho Chi-sheng of 1111 Job Bank said more than 440,000 foreign travelers arrived in Taiwan in August, representing a 20.34 percent growth compared to the same period last year. In order to cater to the increasing demand for flight services, Ho said, China Airlines is looking to hire 300 new flight staff, while EVA Air needs 200, he said. On the same occasion, Liao Hui-ling of the Airline Career Development Association in Taipei said that 31 percent of local air carriers' pilots are foreign nationals, another 31 percent are retired military aircraft pilots, and 31 percent are privately trained pilots. Tsai Li-chun, secretary-general of the association, said some of the privately trained pilots graduated from local colleges and took language courses offered by the association and aviation courses offered by overseas institutions. However, only about 0.2 percent in that group managed to land jobs with local air carriers, Tsai said. Some of the pilots had enrolled in U.S. or Australian flight schools and earned commercial aircraft pilot licenses before seeking jobs with local air carriers. Such courses will take a year to 18 months and cost between NT$2 million (US$63,751) and NT$3 million, he said. About 70 percent to 80 percent in this group succeeded in getting a job with local carriers, according to Tsai. However, they still have to be trained to fly the models of airplanes that the local carriers use, he said. The entry level salary for a pilot is between NT$60,000 and NT$80,000, according to Tsai. As for flight attendants, they receive salaries of between NT$40,000 and NT$45,000 per month working with local carriers, compared to NT$60,000 offered by Cathay Pacific Airways and NT$80,000 offered by Singapore Airlines, he said. 