Oxford Aviation Training is promising students on its Airline Preparation Programme a fee refund if they fail to meet the required standards on the initial phases of training
Airline pilot students have received an unequivocal guarantee from the UK's Oxford Aviation Training (OAT) – from this month, if they do not pass their exams, they could be eligible for up to £18,000 ($34,000) of their fees back.
Students on OAT's Airline Preparation Programme (APP) will be refunded tuition fees for the first two phases of their Air Transport Pilot's Licence ground training and initial parts of flight training, should they fail to meet the required standard.
"This has been introduced in response to how we manage risk," says Anthony Petteford, OAT managing director and head of training. "The early stages of training are the riskiest in terms of how much money students have invested in it, so we wanted to be seen to be taking a risk as much as them."
Those working towards the qualification face a stiff financial burden, as the 65-week course costs £56,500, before additional Civil Aviation Authority fees.
OAT introduced selection for its APP course three years ago, as well as introducing more elements that are attractive to airline employers, such as commercial training, so some safeguards are already in place to ensure airline pilot hopefuls are not wasting their money.
"We don't take people through training unless they have a chance of getting through it," says Petteford, "but this sometimes doesn't completely satisfy parents or banks, who are usually the people putting up the money."
Bespoke loans are available for OAT students from HSBC, which will loan some of the funds for the course at 2% over the Bank of England's base rate, to be paid back over up to 11 years.
Petteford has introduced another safety net for students this month to help newly qualified pilots keep their qualifications fresh while they look for work. APP graduates failing to secure an airline job within six months of graduation will be eligible for two hours' refresher training in the school's Boeing 737-400 FNPT II simulator. If still not employed by an airline a year after graduation, they will receive two hours' further refresher training and OAT will renew their single-pilot instrument rating free of charge.
"You can't really get a job with an airline unless you have a current rating," says Petteford. "When the industry was depressed, we did have some students waiting more than a year to find work and I am sure they would have greatly benefited from this."
Source: Flight International
