Vietnam Airlines Must Plan for Future Dev HANOI - Vietnam Airlines needs to develop a long-term human resource strategy if the nation's flag carrier is to expand service in future, the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper reports. To meet the forecast demand for domestic and international air transport, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) plans to build two international airports and eight to 10 new domestic facilities after 2015. Vietnam Airlines has also set goals of managing 100 per cent of aircraft wing and body repair and rehauling by 2005 and 80 per cent of facility and engine repair and rehauling by 2020. The paper noted that Vietnam's civil aviation sector would need more highly skilled employees to serve as commercial pilots, airway guides, aviation engineers, and maintenance technicians as service is expanded. At present, workers for the aviation sector are mostly trained at the Ha Noi Aircraft Technology School, Ho Chi Minh City Aviation School, the Institute of Aviation Science, Ha Noi University of Technology and Ho Chi Minh City Technology University. These schools only train technicians, technical staff, and hostesses. Pilots are mostly trained abroad. HCM City Technology University and Hanoi Technology University are officially to open department code of aviation technique this year. And the Institute of Aviation Science and Ho Chi Minh City Aviation School are mapping out international training co-operation plans to meet world-wide standards. CAAV's Personal Management department estimates that most of the civil aviation sector's 38,398 employees should undergo long- or short-term training courses. To prepare a long-term training strategy, the Vietnam Aviation School is to carry out five draft projects by 2010. The first project, funded by French ODA, is to upgrade Vietnam Aviation School into an Institute of Aviation, establishing a training department for pilots, teachers and technology transfers. By the end of this year, the second project to build a dormitory and indoor/outdoor gymnasium is expected to be completed, and a 30 billion dong (US$2.16 million) project will eventually train contingent of teaching cadres. Under the fourth project, by the end of the year the school will join in the TRAINAIR-ICAO system of instruction with the help of the aviation department of International Civil Aviation Organisation. The last project is the construction of an equipped airport for training purposes on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam News Agency - May 11, 2000.