The airline company British Airways invests in a new program for cadet pilots, Speedbird Pilot Academyin order to “increase diversity in aviation” – and above all to ensure that there are enough new pilots on a regular basis.
The new cadet program of the British flag carrier, based at the airport of London-Heathrow, will finance the formation of 60 aspiring pilots per year. This initiative “aims to remove the barrier of the high cost of flight training, making it more accessible to older people from 18 to 55 years old “, underlines British Airways in a press release.
Successful applicants will be offered a place at an approved flight school and, upon completion of training, a job pilot at British Airways. The airline will fund the training, which can cost around £100,000 privately, to ensure a pool of future pilots “more diverse and more talented”. Applications will open in September.
The initiative, a multi-million pound investment, is part of British Airways’ efforts to “increase diversity in the aviation industry and provide equal opportunities for aspiring pilots from all backgrounds”.
Iberiahis bandmate AGI and in the Alliance Oneworld, had made a similar announcement at the beginning of July, with the launch of the third edition of its cadet program in collaboration with the Flight Training Europe (FTE) school in Jerez. A less ambitious program since with the objective of “selecting the most qualified professionals participating in its training and, at the same time, promoting the profession of pilot by helping with financial costs”.
The program Iberia Cadets also promotes the profession of pilot among young people, by helping them to finance their training on very advantageous terms so that they can develop their vocation. Once the training program is completed, Iberia wants to “facilitate, insofar as the required conditions are met, the integration of these cadets into the labor market through the airlines of the Iberia group”. The Madrid-Barajas-based company has already entered 19 pilots from the two previous editions of the program.
So far this year, Iberia has already hired “more than 100 new pilots”; in addition, it launched a new call for flight crew members holding a Airbus type rating (A320, A330, A340, A350 or A380), “having a minimum of 150 hours of flight experience in an Airbus Fly by Wire type aircraft” (until July 31, details here).
©Iberia
