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Weekly Lists
August 24, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 24
bne:
Infrastructure
Russia's Rossiya airline runs out of Russian pilots, hires foreigners for the first time ever
Finding pilots willing to work for Russian airlines has become so tough that for the first time the state-owned Rossiya carrier is look- ing to recruit from overseas, RBC reports.
Russian pilots have been quitting Russian airlines in droves since the 2014 ruble devaluation. Highly qualified and very experienced, they can find work in other countries where the pay is several times higher.
National carrier Aeroflot in particular has been suffering from rising costs. Wage inflation has sullied its once sparkling investment case, and the labour shortage has become so acute that the company has been forced into drastic action. Thanks to Russia’s large population and long history of military prowess, there has in the past been no shortage of qualified pilots for the domestic airlines. But no more.
Rossiya has been recruiting foreign pilots for flights operating out of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don. They will fly Boe- ing 737, 777 and 747 aircraft as well as Airbus 320s and the capi- tains will earn up to RUB500,000 ($7,417) per month, or roughly ten-fold the national average wage. A co-pilot's job brings in RUB240,000 a month.
The government of Romania in its August 23 meeting endorsed 16 infrastructure investment projects, including eight new ones, as priority projects to be financed under public private partnerships. No details about the value of the projects, or the calendar for the partnerships, were announced.
Five projects, namely for three motorway segments, one national medical centre in Bucharest and the revival of a chain of 15 hospi- tals supervised by the ministry of transport, were unveiled earlier in May this year. Eight more projects were announced in June and were endorsed by the August 23 government decision.
The outlook for actual completion of the ambitious projects re- mains gloomy, though.
The new projects announced in August refer to high-speed railway routes (Bucuresti), a Bucharest metro network expansion, Constan- ta freight port expansion, Danube river regularisation at Drobeta Turnu Severin (for avoiding floods), pumped storage hydropower plant Tarnita Lapustesti, a new resort on the Black Sea coast and two projects in health care: the expansion of Dr. Grozovici hospital in Bucharest and the building of a new hospital in Targu Mures.
Romania lists eight new priority infrastructure investment projects