Big money is being offered to captains of Pacific Blue flights to switch to other international and domestic airlines as the worldwide shortage of pilots tightens.

According to one posting on a bulletin board, the New Zealand subsidiary of Virgin Blue is seeing its captains offered $100,000 joining money.

Virgin Blue isn’t commenting on the specific claims, but the captains-for-cash game is especially risky for any smaller airline that is targeted because the highest rated pilots cannot be replaced at short notice by lower rated first officers.

For only a few million dollars, or small change for bigger carriers in the current boom times, minor competitors who exercise inconvenient pricing power in markets like trans Tasman or domestic Australian and New Zealand markets can be crippled by larger longer established carriers.

However the strategy might not be working as well as intended.

Virgin Blue says that its New Zealand operation had signed up ten extra captains this year from nationals who had decided to ‘come home’ from contracts with Emirates, easyJet and Cathay Pacific, as well as some already working for Air New Zealand.

Virgin Blue says it isn’t raiding other carrier pilot ranks but rather has become the employer of choice for experienced regional pilots looking for longer term career stability or a job flying its new Embraer E-jets, which are likely to put some turbo-prop regional operations out of business in the near term.

The pursuit of Australian and New Zealand pilots with special deals contrasts with the hard line approach of airline managements on both sides of the Tasman in pay negotiations earlier this year.

Some pilot association members believe the next iniquity to collapse because of the skills shortage will be the self funding of training courses that sees entrants to the flying profession required to fund up to $150,000 in fees to reach proficiencies leading to main line employment.

Another carrier claimed to be at risk in the hiring turmoil is National Jet Systems which operates resource industry contracts and some Qantaslink flights for Qantas.

Those who are flying with NJS have however received an operational warning to take care with wristbands, long sleeve shirt cuffs or flight manual binders while flying Boeing 717s.

Last September one of them lost power in one of its engines in Western Australia when the fuel switch was inadvertently snagged into the OFF position.

A report into that sartorial incident was released this morning by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.