Air France pilots are to meet Monday with a Chinese company hoping to recruit them to Asia, union officials said, as the French airline tries to shed staff to regain competitiveness.

Pilots from Air France and two subsidiaries are to attend the informational meeting organised by the French aviation association APNA, where they will be encouraged to volunteer for the contracts.

The pilots would be based in Shanghai and fly regionally under the terms of the two-year renewable contract, according to an APNA document on the website of the SNPL main pilot union.

Air France announced in June it needed to slash over 5,000 jobs, or around 10 percent of its workforce, through voluntary departures by 2014, as part of a larger plan to make the struggling airline profitable.

The move comes as fast-growing airlines in Asia and the Middle East have begun to look for trained pilots in Europe and the Americas, where established carriers there seek to downsize due to a market slowdown.

US aircraft manufacturer Boeing recently estimated that the Asia/Pacific region will require over 185,000 new pilots over the next two decades.