After two years of pilot recruitment famine in the long-haul sector, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are responding to improved market conditions by offering flight crew jobs but only for direct-entry pilots, writes David Learmount.
Meanwhile, the rapidly expanding low-cost operators EasyJet, Ryanair and Bmibaby are continuing their pilot recruitment drives and all the airlines say they need cabin crew. Although the trunk carriers say they are not planning to operate any ab-initio recruitment schemes at present, EasyJet and Ryanair continue to take a small proportion of their pilots via their existing ab-initio schemes.
British Airways, which froze pilot recruitment in September 2001 - although it took on the cadet entry students that were in its training scheme - wants direct entry senior first officers for its Heathrow-based Airbus A320 family fleet and for its Boeing 777 fleet and "a few" for its 747-400s. The airline is looking for type-qualified crew "in the first wave", says BA's general manager flight operations Paul Douglas.
He adds that BA is not increasing its pilot numbers but expects to see 148 retiring this year and 30 more leaving for other reasons. Douglas says he is aware of the considerable competition for short-haul pilots from the low-cost carriers.
Virgin says it needs 70 pilots with at least 2,500h including 1,500h jet time. Bmibaby says it is looking for an unspecified number of type-rated 737-300/500 pilots for its Manchester and Teesside bases. Parent BMI British Midland is not recruiting pilots yet, but since December last year its trading figures have improved considerably, with March passenger numbers 20% up on the same month last year.
Source: Flight International
