China's top civil aviation authority vowed to standardize its booming air-attendant training sector to create a more orderly competitive environment, a senior official with the Human Resources Development Center under General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC)said Wednesday.

The rapid development of the nation's civil aviation industry has bred a huge need for air attendants, and the high incomes for the career has lured a large population of women and men into the business, said Dong Likui, CAAC's human resources director.

As a hallmark of the civil aviation services, air attendants and the service they provide is related to an airline's brand image. Improving the quality of the employees is of crucial importance, Dong said.

In recent years, many training agencies mushroomed in the country.

According to the statistics from CAAC's Human Resources Development Centre, there are more than 50 colleges specializing in training air attendants.

In addition, more and more privately-owned colleges establish cabin attendant majors to attract students, who have to pay around 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) for tuition to complete three-year training programs.

Though most of training agencies are approved by the Ministry of Education, unstandardized programmes in various colleges have led to a range of quality among graduates. That makes airlines wary of selecting people, said Zhang Lingli, director of the Consumer Business Center of CAAC.

Moreover, graduates might sustain personal losses if they fail to get hired after spending so much on their schooling, she said.

Zhang is also the chief judge of the ongoing First Cabin Attendant Colleges Promotion Event, an activity aimed at helping foreign and domestic airlines select qualified attendants.

Acting as abridge between training institutions and airlines, such an event helps bring the nation's cabin attendant colleges and airlines together, with the market weeding out the non-performers, she said.

"Let the market itself play a crucial role in regulating the nation's air training sector," Zhang said.

During the three-day event starting Wednesday, dozens of domestic and foreign airlines will select qualified air attendants from among more than 100 graduates from 20-some cabin attendant colleges.

(China Daily February 26, 2004)