NetJets Europe largest business jet operator with sponsored ab initio training scheme as expansion-fuelled hunt for pilots continues

Fast-growing European fractional sets up sponsored cadet scheme with Oxford Aviation to supply first officers

NetJets Europe is launching a sponsored ab initio pilot training scheme with the UK's Oxford Aviation Training aimed at providing the fractional operator with up to 48 first officers a year.

Europe's largest business jet operator aims to select its first batch of eight cadets "in the next few weeks", says NetJets Europe business development director Robert Dranitzke. Another 24 will follow this year, with the intake rising to 48 annually from 2008, he adds.

NetJets, which has placed a full-page job advertisement in this week's Flight International magazine (pictured left), expects to absorb 180 new first officers every year for three years, with the balance comprising direct-entry pilots. "It's a testament to our conviction that our future growth will continue to be robust," says Dranitzke.

The 17-month ab initio training syllabus has been "designed for us with our standard operating procedures and our culture in mind", says Dranitzke, and includes a fortnight at the end of the course focusing on unusual attitude training and visual flight rules operations "at our more difficult airports".

Pilots will then do "six months training with us until they are released to the line", he says, when they will be paid the same as direct-entry first officers, but obliged to begin paying back the cost of their training in monthly instalments.

Dranitzke says that while NetJets' direct-entry vacancies continue to be oversubscribed, "we want people who will fly with us for their full career. We are ensuring we have a continuous flow of the best pilots the industry has to offer."

The operator boasts 21 nationalities among its pilot corps - spread among 42 "gateway" airports - and "we are very keen that our recruits will be pan-European", he adds.

NetJets operates Cessna Citation VII/Bravo/Excel/XLS, Dassault Falcon 900/2000/2000EXs, Gulfstream IVSP/V/550s and Raytheon Hawker 400XP/800XPs.

Other business jet operators, including Cessna Citation operator 247Jet also offer sponsorship, indicating the shortage of pilots in the sector.

Source: Flight International