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“Airlines are expecting higher standards in today’s demanding Flight Operations environment.”

Employment Situation – Recent

The situation for the last few years has been the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, with many airlines laying staff off, or reducing their rate of expansion. This has allowed the industry to be quite selective, and the emergence of a pool of qualified but inexperienced pilots.

Note that in this context, qualified means meeting the legal requirements, rather than the airlines requirements. Airlines are expecting higher standards in today’s demanding Flight Operations environment. Those pilots who meet those requirements are substantially more employable. So, the first part of a strategy for gaining employment is to be the graduate of a course of training that meets what the airlines desires, rather than what the licensing authorities specify as a minimum.

There are signs that some parts of the industry are taking the ‘long view’ in regards to pilot training demographics, and investing heavily in facilities and personnel. Additionally, the airline industry is starting to wake up to the need to regularise its source of pilots, yet is not able to justify the up front cost of sponsorship schemes. We now see the concept of ‘pre selection’, whereby a candidate is screened by an application process. If successful, the candidate funds their own training with the airline offering an agreement in principle to employ the candidate on licence issue. This substantially reduces the risk to the candidate, and so forms the second part of a strategy for a successful entry to the profession.

In summary, candidate pilots need:

1. A training programme that exceeds licensing requirements and meets the airlines needs.
2. Opportunities for “pre selection”.

Fortunately there is such a thing: the Jet Pilot Programme, offered by Sigmar in conjunction with CityJet.

In just 18 months you could have entered a rewarding Pilot career flying one of CityJet's aircraft throughout Europe.

It will require hard work and commitment, but it is achievable.

Before we can show you the details of the course, you need to have an overview of the licensing requirements.