China Airlines (CAL) said yesterday that it had fired two trainee pilots who reportedly played strip poker at a party during a flight training program in Australia.
"The [trainees] were asked to sign contracts with the CAL pledging to abide by the behavior guidelines during the training period," Johnson Sun (
"Any trainees violating the guidelines, subsequently harming the company's image, are subject to the punishment of dismissal," Sun said.
He did not elaborate on what the pair had done to violate the company's guidelines.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily said the two cadet pilots -- an unnamed man and a woman identified only by her surname Yang -- were forced to drop out of the 10-month flight program in Adelaide for joining a wild birthday party with two or three other trainees last year.
The pair had taken most of their clothes off during a poker game, the paper said.
They were dismissed while the others were given rebukes, the paper said.
The male trainee also paid CAL NT$2 million (US$62,500) in compensation for failing to go through the costly training program, as stipulated in the contract.
But the woman refused to pay, insisting they simply "talked and played games" and did not act improperly, according to the paper.
The airline said each trainee costs the company some NT$10 million before he or she becomes a qualified co-pilot.
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