How to become an Airline Pilot
Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 飞行驾驶员
Flies and controls aircraft, monitors the flight and leads the crew in keeping passengers and cargo safe and the service good.
Main tasks
- Studying the route, information on the airports involved and flying methods before take off, and preparing in advance
- Studying and following plans for handling unusual situations and aviation security measures, and checking the relevant information
- Reviewing the weather, notices to airmen, flight plan and load and balance documents from the dispatcher just before the flight, checking the aircraft is airworthy, signing the release with the dispatcher and agreeing what to do about delays or problems
- Checking the total fuel and the aircraft's documents, certificates and logbooks, confirming it is airworthy, and getting the final load and balance sheet and confirming it is within limits
- Overseeing the crew in flight, flying the aircraft by the book and handling emergencies
- Filling in flight records and arranging the crew's rest and meals
Ways in
- University: Engineering degrees, Offered by 105 universities in China Related undergraduate subject classes in the Ministry of Education catalogue (2025): Transportation (0818); majors such as Transportation, Traffic Engineering, Marine Navigation, Marine Engineering, Flight Technology, Transportation Equipment and Control Engineering. Matched to the occupation by Peernovo.
- National qualification: Licence to practise: Aviation Personnel Licence. You need this qualification to work in the job. Listed in the national vocational qualifications catalogue (国家职业资格目录, 2021) as Aviation Personnel Licence (航空人员资格), run by Civil Aviation Administration of China. Peernovo links it to this occupation.
AI and this job
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Who does this work
- The census group Aircraft and Ship Technical Personnel holds 0.02% of everyone employed in China; 7% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
- 43.1% are under 35, 46.7% are 35 to 54 and 10.2% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 35 to 39.
- Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.
Related jobs
Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz
Questions people ask
How do I become an Airline Pilot?
Ways in include: Engineering degrees.
Will AI change the work of an Airline Pilot?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.
Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.
Updated 4 October 2026