To the original poster, you initial post is non-sense. Although I think some people are being over pessimistic, I do think we will struggle to get back to 80-90 % of the flight demand we had in 2019. Probably around 2-3 years. We will never recover that extra 10-20 %, simply because some businesses have realized that skype/teams/zoom does the job too for meetings, and for free.
Once these 2-3-4 years maybe are gone, you will be behind many other wannabees, and many qualified pilots who were sadly fired during this crisis.
Originally Posted by
shamrock_f22
Training to become a pilot has made little sense at the best of times but especially now. It was always my dream and until very recently I gave it everything I had. I was utterly devastated to be rejected by AL on their cadet programme at the last hurdle... Then covid19 happened just a few weeks later.
Other than following my dream, a career as an airline pilot still didn't make much sense but now I thank my lucky stars I didn't get through and give everything up only for this to happen.
What do I have to fall back on? A decent career as an Engineer and now sales person. I've made €60k in commission alone in the last year which is more than some pilots make full stop from what I've heard.
Honestly I think you should go elsewhere for now. The airlines treat people like dirt, they're incredibly arrogant, the jobs won't be worth the crap salary they offer new starters and you can enjoy a decent lifestyle until it all picks up again in the future.
So basically you were unsuccessful, and now you're blaming the airlines because they play people like dirt? Well seeing your post, I am not very surprised.
Most pilots in decent companies get more than 60.000/year in year 1, probably 100 % in year 3-4. I made around 75.000 in year 2 in a very well known British Airline, which is not amongst us any longer. Obviously, that's RHS in the very first years.
But even if pilots made less than you, you will always look up to the sky and think "I never made it". Pilots will never look down and say "shXXXt, I lost my comission".
Sorry to be such an idiot, but it is very oportunistic to come around amid the worst crisis in this century and say that an aviation career never made much sense. I do not think every pilot thinks that. It is hard, schedules are harsh, but hey! it is the best job by far. I think we pilots know we are extremely lucky and feel very proud of what we do. And to be honest, we have been pretty well paid in decent airlines.
There are only 3 downsides of this career:
- Getting into it (and I come from a very modest family too).
- Crisis hit aviation very hard (like now)
- Not the best career for your health, but probably compensated by many other factors.
Now you can go to the traders professional forums and post there how much you love your job. Being a pilot is shXXXt, that is why you are still here.