Malindo, Lion Air keen to employ 600 pilots

PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK): New low-cost airline Malindo Airways is set to at least halve Malaysia's problem of unemployed pilots.

Malaysia's newest airline, and one of its shareholders - Indonesia's Lion Air, will employ the 600 pilots who turned up for walk-in interviews at the KL International Airport on Thursday.

And Malindo might employ more pilots with further interviews planned on Friday and Saturday, according to its chief executive officer Chandran Ramamuthy.

Malindo has said it will begin flights between Indonesia and Malaysia next May with a fleet of 12 Boeing 727 aircraft which it plans to expand to 100 planes within a decade.