Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

—Aeroflot on Tuesday welcomed the first non-Russian pilot to join Russia’s flag carrier. Klaus Rohlfs, a German citizen, expects to make his maiden flight as an Aeroflot captain from Moscow to Prague on Wednesday.


Two more candidate captains—from the Czech Republic and Germany—now completing their registration formalities, also participated in an induction ceremony Tuesday in Moscow.


Earlier this year the Kremlin enacted changes to Article 56 of the Russian Air Code to allow Russian airlines to hire foreign citizens as flight personnel staring on July 21. A government order allows the nation’s carriers to recruit as many as 200 foreign citizens every year in total.


Aeroflot received more than 800 applications from foreign pilots, or more than 10 per vacancy. Most came from the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Spain. To date more than 40 applicants have passed initial selection and testing procedures.


Aeroflot’s management sees recruitment of foreign pilots as a “transitional” measure to help reduce Russia’s shortage of flight personnel.


“Today is a historic day,” said Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Saveliev. “For the first time in Russian history, a foreign citizen will captain an Aeroflot airplane. This is an important step; now that we are able to employ captains from outside the country, we can bring through substantially greater numbers of Russian pilots, who will gain experience for their captain’s exams by flying with their foreign colleagues as copilots. Despite some slowdown in 2014, the Russian aviation market is continuing to grow, so demand for pilots remains strong.”


Aeroflot's move in hiring foreign pilots comes despite Russia's displeasure at that latest wave of <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/blogs/russian-sanctions-avoid-direct-hit-civil-aerospace">economic sanctions</a> imposed by both the European Union and the U.S.

Aeroflot Welcomes Its First Foreign Pilots 

Government order allows Russian airlines to hire 200 non-Russian pilots a year.

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