Cabair Group's director of flight training Mike Watt is concerned that the multi-crew pilot licence depends completely on airlines mentoring or sponsoring students from the start - and not dropping out at some later stage in the course. Since airlines have not committed to the MPL in any quantity at present - especially in Europe - self-sponsored students cannot avail themselves of the MPL training route even if they wanted to, he says.
British Airways' flight manager pilot recruitment Capt John Monks says the airline is maintaining an open mind and recruiting policy. BA recruits pilots from all sources providing they meet the carrier's standards, and he says of the MPL that it is "just another different background". He adds, however, that in the long run BA does see a financial advantage in the MPL: "It is not the driver," he says, "but we are still bound to consider value for money."
Meanwhile, he points out, 148 self-sponsored student pilots using the traditional licence training have recently come into BA from flight training organisations and there have been no failures among them, "so the current system does work."
Source: Flight International
