The Simulator Gap Keeping EASA Renewals Out of Reach in Asia

That includes international airlines operating in the region. The issue: their licenses are regulated by EASA (the European Union Aviation Safety Agency) and renewing them from Asia isn't as simple.

A Growing Pilot Shortage Meets a Renewal Bottleneck

Southeast Asia is one of the regions most exposed to the global pilot shortage. Airlines are growing their fleets and adding routes faster than training programs can keep up. Boeing latest estimates show that the industry will need 66,000 new pilots by 2045 – and that is pushing airlines to hire experienced pilots from outside the region, says Roberto Casarin, Deputy Head of Training at BAA Training Vietnam, who has tracked this trend for the past ten years.

"There are plenty of European pilots flying for Asian carriers on their EASA-issued licenses right now. But the complication is this: when their qualification needs renewing, they currently have to fly back to Europe to do it. That costs money, and a lot more time than it should.

"On top of that, the region has very few EASA-approved full flight simulators, and few EASA-certified examiners who can carry out these renewals. In Vietnam, for example, we're the only independent training center with an EASA-certified Airbus A320 full flight simulator and EASA-certified examiners. The only other countries nearby with this capability are Thailand and Singapore."

A Region Split Between Regulatory Standards

There is another layer to this. Some aviation authorities – Taiwan and Hong Kong, for example – only recognize EASA-certified equipment and programs.

"We do get asked specifically whether our programs and devices are EASA-certified," Casarin notes. "Without that certification, some of these pilots simply wouldn't have been able to complete the training they needed. These enquiries and cases already set the tone pretty clearly for the region, so we are continuously investing into bringing EASA standards to Southeast Asia."

Part of the reason for this comes down to how fragmented aviation oversight is across the region. Each country's aviation authority decides independently which regulatory standard to follow, and many choose EASA to do so. It is seen as one of the most rigorous and well-developed systems. That choice then determines which training programs and simulator devices airlines in that country are required to use, Casarin notes.

Local Training Centers Are Filling the Gap

In the short term, Casarin doesn’t expect to see new EASA-approved simulators appearing in the region. Getting certified is expensive, and that cost can be difficult to maintain for training centers tied to a single airline or with a limited number of clients.

"Getting EASA certification is expensive, strict, and slow – it typically takes six months to a year. And certifying a device outside an EASA-regulated country adds even more inspection. In a country like Vietnam, the process demands real thoroughness. It is not something just anyone can do, and it is not something that happens fast."

For European pilots based in Southeast Asia, flying home for every license renewal means losing time and money. Local EASA-certified training centers solve that problem – no long-haul travel required. For regional airlines that don't have the resources to build this capability in-house, independent training centers like this fill an important gap.