David Learmount/LONDON
UK no-frills airline, easyJet, is being forced to offer a large cash bounty in a bid to recruit experienced pilots.
The move comes against a background of major hikes in flight-crew pay and conditions among Irish and UK low-cost carriers which are expanding so fast that they are outrunning the supply of pilots.
The offers are already attracting pilot applications from mainland Europe, according to Luton, UK-based easyJet, which will force airlines in the region to respond to retain their crews.
EasyJet revealed a package including a £30,000 ($43,500) "golden hello" to suitably qualified captains in an advertisement in Flight International (23-29 January).
Dublin-based Ryanair led the field with a 3 January announcement of pilot share options and salary increases. EasyJet chief pilot Capt Mike Keane says that there is an undoubted shortage of "quality" pilots in the market, but that the primary reasons for its aggressive recruitment campaign is to provide for a planned doubling of fleet size from 21 aircraft to 44 aircraft by May 2004, and to increase its crew/aircraft ratio from 5:7 to 6:2 to address pilot lifestyle issues.
Ryanair's main hub is at Stansted, UK, which it shares with two other low-fare carriers - KLM-owned buzz and British Airways-owned Go. The Irish carrier's offer enables its pilots' earnings to grow to nearly £100,000 within "the next few years" as a result of "productivity awards" - which compares with salaries at the major carriers. Flight crew can also take up to £100,000 in share options.
EasyJet is offering qualified training captains with current Boeing 737 type rating a one-off payment of £30,000, a salary of £67,000, including sector pay, and a number of additional pension and insurance benefits.
Type-rated 737 captains can win a £25,000 one-off payment, which easyJet argues is worth it because it represents the saving to the airline of not having to pay for pilot type rating conversion.
Keane admits that the windfall payments to new entrants may anger some pilots already on the line, but he argues that since the recruitment drive is partly aimed at improving the lifestyle of all the carrier's pilots, and the marketplace is short of experienced captains, easyJet had to take definite action.
The airline's on-line application system is "busy", Keane says, remarking that European pilots, particularly from Norway and the Netherlands frequently apply for work with easyJet.
The International Federation of Airline Pilots Association's director of professional affairs Stan Clayton-Smith says that the current state of affairs has arisen because of the long-term lack of investment by airlines in ab-initio pilot training, and the "lack of government initiatives to encourage young people into the industry".
Source: Flight International
