China’s expat pilots arrived on a red carpet – now, they’re taking a red-eye out

When the first cohort of elite foreign captains parachuted into Chinese airlines in the 2000s, their sky-high pay – sometimes reaching 1 million yuan a year – raised eyebrows among their Chinese counterparts.These hotshot aviators, with their international exposure and qualifications, enjoyed a stratospheric level of success in the burgeoning Chinese market. Facing a shortage of experienced pilots, Chinese carriers embraced them with open arms, granting generous benefits and speedy paths to promotion and making few demands in return.“Other than the warm reminder of no smoking or drinking – part of Chinese regulations on a pilot’s physical condition – overseas captains in China were put on a fast track career runway and cleared for take-off,” recalled one foreign captain still flying with a budget carrier, who requested anonymity due to company policy.“These were the heady years.”This period of prosperity aligned with the rise of the domestic industry as more Chinese started to fly, many for the first time.Two decades on, however, the number of foreigners flying in China has dwindled to a near-negligible amount, even as the country has overtaken the United States as the biggest global aviation market by some metrics.According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the national industry regulator, more than 500 million people took at least one flight during 2025, making China’s “aviation population” the largest in the world.