Whether fresh from trainingand seeking that elusive firstairline job or a seasonedveteran with thousands of

hours and countless ratings, pilot training canbe a contentious issue. This article will inves-tigate the growing trend of charging newlyqualified frozen ATPL holders for type-ratings (aircraft specific training) and‘Pay2Fly’ schemes, whereby airlines recruitnewly type-rated pilots and instead of payingthem a salary, charge the pilot to train andwork with them.

The increasing cost of flighttrainingIt will come as no surprise to many that thecost of flight training is increasing. It isbecause of this that the British Airline PilotsAssociation (BALPA) believe that as theeconomy rebounds and so too the airlineindustry, there will be a shortfall of pilots.This is further evidenced by decreasingintakes at flight schools. Cabair, one of theUK’s leading Flight Training Organisationsreports reduced enrolment of integratedstudents — from 2000-2007 intake wasapproximately 150 students per year, in 2008this dropped to 100 and further dropped to75 then 65 in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Lowand middle-income families are being put offsending their budding young ‘wannabe’ (assome Internet forums call them) sons anddaughters to flight school, as for many thismeans remortgaging or becoming heavilyindebted.

The cost of obtaining a frozen ATPL(which includes the CPL, IR and now, ofcourse, Multi-Crew Co-operation certificateor MCC) has been steadily increasing, in linewith inflation, market forces and, predictably,rising fuel and oil prices . The current cost ofan integrated course to frozen ATPL (fATPL)is anywhere from £59,000 (source: Cabair) to

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How much would you pay to get a job? ALEXANDER FOX looks at the phemonen of Pay2Fly airline trainingschemes — merely an update of old-style ‘bonded’ employment, or a form of slavery for those desperate to geton the flightdeck?

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£69,500 (source: Oxford Aviation Academy).These prices do not include living costs, whichare also rising. Fifteen years ago completion ofa fATPL would, in general terms, be the lasttime that a potential career pilot would need tocommit large sums of money on training. ThefATPL was the culmination of a pilot’s ab-initiotraining and the point at which he or she couldapply for, and reasonably expect to get (ifcompetent enough), a job in the right-handseat of an airliner, albeit under some form ofbonding scheme to ensure pilotloyalty. In 2011 it has becomeincreasingly difficult toachieve the ‘right-handseat dream’ with only afATPL.

The introduc-tion of self-sponsorshipUp until as recently as the late1990s many larger airlines still offeredsponsorships for professional flight training.Upon successful completion of aptitudeassessments and interview boards, a candi-date would be put through the same training,often with very little previous flying experi-ence, that the current generation of futurecommercial pilots have to pay for today —upon successful completion of this traininga candidate would not only be issued afATPL but would then also have a guaranteeof working for the airline that had providedthe training — very few British and, indeed,European, airlines, now offer this type ofsponsorship and, of those that do, the spon-sorship will often involve long hours andmany months (even years) of underpaidwork before any form of flight training orground school even begins. Nowadays it isthe pilot, and in many cases the pilot’s family,that bare the financial burden of flighttraining costs.

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only Pay2Fly scheme on the market. There areother airlines that offer the right-hand seat ‘forsale’ and Eagle Jet are not the only companywho offer schemes like this but it is perhaps oneof the best-known of these schemes and hasalready caused controversy among the pilotcommunity.

What they sayTo gain a wider view of the growth of Pay2Fly,a survey was sent to a number of industryprofessionals including training providers,airlines and pilots (both current airline andnewly qualified) many of whom work withBALPA, in order toascertain the currentindustry position onPay2Fly. It is worthnoting that airline pilotresponses do not neces-sarily represent airlineviews. Many sourceswished to remain anony-mous to protect their jobs — as many airlinesrestrict staff from expressing personal opinionsin the media. LionAir and Eagle Jet were alsocontacted for their comments but, at the timeof going to press, no comment has beenreceived.

Pay2Fly — from the insideA source currently working as a First Officerfor LionAir on an Eagle Jet Pay2Fly scheme,who wished to remain anonymous, had the

Self-sponsored type ratingsWith the age of airline fATPL sponsorshipalmost entirely gone many operators now runtheir own in-house type ratings. According toone BMI training captain, who was interviewedfor this article but wished to remain anony-mous, in a tougher economic climate and withan abundance of pilots looking for first officerpositions, it makes sense for airlines to chargepilots for type-ratings. Indeed, with manyairlines making marginal profits and even losses,flight training is just another cost that needscutting and, as long as there are pilots willing topay for type ratings, airlines will take advantageof this.

However, many pilots that have opted forthis course have found that upon becomingfully on-line (type-rating, base and line trainingcompleted), they are not given many flighthours as the airlines already have a steadystream of pilots coming through the type-ratingtraining (in order to generate as much revenueas possible) that need be base and line checkedupon completing type-training.

Pay2Fly schemes As self-sponsorship has become the norm, afew companies have begun to not only chargefor type-rating training but are also offering theright-hand seat... for a price. One suchcompany, Eagle Jet International (based inMiami, FL), offer numerous professional flighttraining courses but it is the courses that offerFirst Officer experience that have caused a stiramong the pilot community, especially thoselooking for their first airline job.

For a JAA fATPL holder (who will havealready spent between £40,000 and £70,000 —depending on whether training is modular orintegrated), Eagle Jet offer a number of

courses that include type-rating training, baseand line-training and then offer successfulcandidates positions within airlines. Noairlines are specified on the companywebsite (www.eaglejet.net), however, it iswell known to many that Indonesiancarrier LionAir, is one of Eagle Jet’spartner airlines. It was only in July 2009that the European Community lifted theblanket flight ban on all Indonesian

carriers, albeit only four airlines werepermitted to fly in European airspace.

LionAir, however, remains on the no-fly list.According to Aviation Safety Network, sincebeing formed in 1999, LionAir aircraft havebeen involved in six accidents — two of whichresulted in hull-losses, one of which was fatal.

The Eagle Jet/LionAir scheme is not the

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following to say regarding LionAir andPay2Fly. “The cost of line-training for me was$29,900 on top of the original [737] type-rating. It’s a non-paying contract that lasts forone year from the day you fly and a minimumof 500 hours on type. I started in 2010 andstarted flying on the line in the summer”. Thesource did not specify the cost of the originaltype-rating nor living costs in Indonesia. “Wework 80-110 hours a month, so to [build]hours in a short space of time it is great, plusI’m rostered to do nearly 800 hours by thetime I leave, so from a money point of viewthe more hours I do the cheaper the coursehas become.” However, “There are a lot of

things I would changeabout Lion and one isthe scheduling. It is notstable and we are onstandby constantlywaiting for an SMS orphone call to say we areflying the next day.”

He admitted therecan be a language language barrier on the flightdeck: “yes there is one, but it depends who youfly with. The training captains are okay but thelocal captains can be poor,” though they meetICAO level 4 standard, it is worrying that onoccasion the flight crew have difficultycommunicating — not an ideal situation onany flight-deck — especially one where the FOmay have very little line experience.

According to airfleets.net the LionAir fleetconsists of a mix of Boeing 737 (includingthe newer NG variant), 747 and McDonnell

Boei

ng

Indonesian carrier LionAir is still on the EU’s safety blacklist — but has been modernising itsfleet with newer aircraft such as these 737NGs.

the more hours I do thecheaper the course hasbecome...

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Douglas MD-80/90 aircraft. The average ageof the fleet is 8·2 years, this is brought downby the fact that the majority of the fleet (42of 63) are 737NG aircraft — all of which areless than two years old, “[the fleet] is mostlybrand new and have hardly any problems,”the rest of the fleet, however, are all morethan 20 years old. With regard to the lack ofbase training he noted: “Base training isn’tgiven to the pilots because it’s not required ifyour type-rating required you to do one forthe issuance of the rating, for example, JAAin this case. The FAA does not require basetraining for their rating but this is where theywill fall short because to fly in most coun-tries it is needed,” so for anybody joiningLionAir with an FAA type-rating no base-training will have been done prior to flyingpassengers.

On the LionAir Pay2Fly experience thesource sums up by saying: “[the course] is whatyou make it out to be, if you’re expectingEuropean standards, this is not the place foryou.”

Industry responseA captain who works for a major UK-basedlow-cost carrier had the following to say withregard to the increasing cost of professionalflight training: “Pay to fly is rampant — theprogrammes out there are leading to bank-ruptcy, high levels of stress and fatigue forthose concerned. [Students] are being grosslymisled by training organisations and they don’tknow what they are getting themselves into, by

the time they do it is too late. Flying with theseindividuals is putting a huge burden on linecaptains who are flying with low-hour cadetsevery day. This is a big safety issue but, unfor-tunately, the CAA is not listening and nor arethe employers who will get away with it for aslong as they can. Thus, unfortunately, we willprobably have to see a hull wrapped round amountain before anyone does listen.”Furthermore these schemes are leading to,“diminishing experience on the flight deck, anincreasing reliance on automation and unfor-tunately... more incidents and accidents.”

Another respondent, a Senior First Officerwith over 15 yearsindustry experiencebelieves that Pay2Flyschemes have beensuccessful fornumerous reasons.Firstly, the availabilityof student pilotswilling (and able) to payto fly. Secondly, thelimited number of jobsavailable and the steadystream of fATPLholders coming out of flight schools.Furthermore, the respondent believes that asthe industry expands again many airlines maycome un-stuck, “once the industry expandsagain there will be a shortage of Captains andpilots with the required experience for promo-tion due to these schemes. Airlines like Ryanairwho [employ] Pay2Fly pilots for a season butthen replace them with other new Pay2Fly

pilots, could be hit hard by a lack of experiencedFOs to promote.”

With regard to the consequences of Britishand European airlines adopting Pay2Fly,“[these schemes] drive down the terms andconditions for everybody to a point where notenough people want to train as airline pilots.Only then will we see terms and conditionsimprove. Alternatively we will get a Colgan Airscenario where pilots cannot afford a decentplace to live and fly when tired or ill” and then,of course, safety becomes a major factor.However, this pilot believes that airlines willrevert to traditional methods of recruitment

as the economy recoversand airlines begin to onceagain expand.

‘Morally wrong’One respondent happyto go on the record wasCapt Alan Carter, acontract pilot anddirector of Simufly Ltd,an aviation instructionconsultancy, has 30 years

of industry experience and had the followingto say on Pay2Fly: “My personal opinion isthat the concept is wrong. However, I canunderstand that these companies realise underthe present economic conditions that they cando this, and are able to entice inexperiencedpilots into their schemes, as there are very fewother options open to these pilots.”

He added: “But paying for type ratings andbase training through a ‘bonding’ scheme hasbeen around for as long as I have been flying.I was bonded with Dan Air, Virgin Atlanticand Thomsonfly; schemes which I under-stand and agree with, as it engenders loyaltybetween the pilots and the company.However, bonding for line training is ascheme which in my opinion is morally unac-ceptable.”

When asked if he believed these schemeswere a reaction to the current economicclimate, and whether they would becomeobsolete as the economy recovered, Capt.Carter postulated the following: “In myopinion I believe that the precedent has beenset and until the major airlines recognise ashortage of pilots entering at the bottom oftheir seniority lists which they need to train,and bond where necessary, these schemes willbe around for some time; regardless of anupturn in the economy.”

He summed up: “I would personally like tosee a fairer employment situation for newlyqualified pilots, the majority of whom have

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An office with a great view. But how much would you pay to work there?

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these schemes are leadingto, “diminishing experienceon the flight deck, [and] anincreasing reliance onautomation..

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undergone huge financial sacrifices to obtaintheir qualifications. I personally do not agree toPay2Fly schemes for line training. I understandwhy airlines feel the need to charge for typeratings in the current market, so long as thesecharges are set at realistic and not exploitativelevels. In my opinion, charging for line trainingis morally wrong but the current economicsituation allows these airlines to do this.Whether the economic situation in the futureallows them to do this, well, I hope it doesn’t.”

A frozen ATPL pilots viewSean Callaghan, an IT consultant and frozenATPL holder since March 2009, has beentrying to get into the right-hand seat of anairliner for nearly two years. He currently fliespart-time (without pay) for a small operatorbased at Shoreham, in the UK, and also workson the BALPA Training Committee. Seanstarted flying in 2002 and went on to take thenecessary training to gain a fATPL — becausehe was entirely self-funded Sean undertook amodular course that allowed him to continueworking full-time in order to fund training.

Sean has carried out a lot of his ownresearch in his hunt for an airline job and aspart of his work for BALPA. He believes it isunjustified for airlines to charge potentialemployees for type ratings and line training,stating: “Employers should pay for training ontheir own aircraft. Employees in other profes-sions such as IT, expect their employers to payfor training as part of operating their busi-nesses,” furthermore, many operators profitfrom these activities, often charging more thanthe actual cost of the training itself.

With regard to Pay2Fly becoming obsoleteas the economy recovers, Sean believes thiswill not be the case, “when the economy wasbetter these schemes were more popular asfinancing was easier to gain.” Furthermore, hebelieves that modular pilots, such as himself,will struggle to get airline jobs either freshfrom training or with experience, “as long asthe pilot training organisations have agree-ments in place to supply [the airlines with]pilots.” Through these schemes “modularpilots will look at self-funded ratings orPay2Fly schemes to be able to gain employ-ment”, adding that airlines don’t advertise jobsbecause these companies (which generallycharge more for training) have agreements tosupply pilots.

On the topic of whether European airlineswould hire Pay2Fly graduates from schemessuch as Eagle Jet/LionAir Sean responded:“many of these scheme’s run line trainingoutside of Europe, with operators that are not

JAA/EASA member states. Further to that,some European airlines have questioned thequality of the initial training.”

Finally, Sean believes that shouldBritish/European airlines begin adoptingsimilar schemes to that of Eagle Jet/LionAiron a large scale, the MPL (Multi-Crew PilotLicence) would become more popular forthose looking for direct-entry airline positions.

Campaigning for a betterdeal — FairPlane In fact so concerned are some that acampaign has been set up to press for ‘flighttraining fairness’. Jane Desforges, founder ofthe FairPlane campaign(www.fairplane.org.uk), has a passionate wishto see ‘social mobility’ within the profession.Jane believes that Pay2Fly has come aboutbecause of “unethical companies takingadvantage of vulnerable and desperatestudents,” and that, “airlines should cover thecost of the type rating and then the pilotwould be tied into a [bonding scheme]... Ithink that charging for the type rating whenthe student has already had to cover themassive cost of frozen ATPL training is toomuch.” With regard to these schemesbecoming obsolete in the future Jane is unsureif this will be the case, “certain companieshave found a way to milk extra money andthey are getting away with it... Why would theychange their ways?”

Jane believes that the consequences ofPay2Fly being more widely adopted in the UKand Europe is that flight-crew competencecould be compromised, “money would speakso much louder than competency, the airlineswould be more interested in whether a pilot

could pay and young pilots would be willing totake whatever they could,” furthermore therewould be “Increased monetary pressure onfuture pilots... and an overall drop in the UK airindustry’s reputation”. To sum up, Janepurports: “without a change in the way ofthinking from the airlines and with the pres-sures on them to be viable profit-making busi-nesses this is just another way for them to savemoney”.

ConclusionIt is becoming more and more expensive totrain as an airline pilot these days, and not justin terms of the basic cost of flight training.The experience requirements set by airlines arealmost unattainable unless you have near limit-less financial backing. The general consensusgarnered from the research is that, while manybelieve Pay2Fly in one form or another may behere to stay (though some believe it willdecline as the economy recovers and pilotsupply decreases/airline demand increases), itis wholly unfair on new pilots. With ever wors-ening terms and conditions and decreasingsalaries as well as increasing costs for training,it is a wonder that there are still as manytrainees as there are.

Pay2Fly schemes, make good short-termbusiness sense from an airline perspective inthat they do reduce airline costs, however, inthe medium to long-term, and with a pilotshortage imminent, it may only be a matter oftime before some airlines begin to buck thetrend and begin hiring fledgling FOs straightout of fATPL training, albeit under some sortof bonding scheme. It is this author’s opinion,however, that there will always be a place forPay2Fly because there will always be thosewilling, and able, to pay to fly. O

Bombardier Q400 with Continental Connection — similar to the one lost by Colgan Air in 2009.Some worry that continued financial pressure on new pilots will impact safety.

Rudi Riet/Flickr

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