SHANGHAI Airlines has filed suit in a local court seeking a combined 35 million yuan (US$5 million) in compensation from nine pilots who want to leave the company.

A court in Shanghai’s Jingan District had accepted the case, in which Shanghai Air alleged the pilots’ departure would harm its operations and flight safety, domestic media reported yesterday.

The Shanghai-listed airline demanded that the pilots deliver on their lifetime labor contracts or pay compensation and resignation applications submitted previously by another 10 Shanghai Air pilots were now under arbitration, according to domestic media reports.

A Shanghai Air spokesman said some pilots had submitted their resignation but declined to elaborate. Officials at the local Shanghai court could not immediately be reached.

Domestic airlines increasingly face a shortage of pilots due to booming air travel and the emergence of private airlines, such as budget carrier Spring Airlines, that are offering higher wages to lure pilots from big State-run firms.

Pilots at State carriers often must make sizable payments to their employers if they quit their jobs.

Labor disputes between pilots and carriers made national headlines this month after 21 flights operated by a China Eastern Airlines unit in southwestern China’s Yunan Province returned to their departure airports soon after taking off, in what local media said was a protest over pay and working conditions. (SD-Agencies)