British Pilots : The fight back begins.
British pilots are being excluded from jobs in the United Kingdom by foreign airlines setting up bases in the United Kingdom and then subsequently only recruiting European Union Licensed crew. For example on the Indeed job board on the 31 July 2021 Lauda Europe part of Ryanair are advertising for Airbus Captains and First Officers for a Stansted base but to apply you must have an EASA Licence and an EU Medical Certificate. What is going on when in Essex in England in the United Kingdom a British ATPL issued by the the UK CAA is not even able to apply for work in our own country and were to get a chance of a flying job in Britain you need to have a foreign non British Licence. How has the CAA allowed this to come to pass ?
How would it roll if a British Airline established its main operating base in Dublin and tried to insist that only UK CAA Licenced pilots could apply for work in Ireland. Any attempt to do this would be physically stopped immediately and it is beyond belief that the British Government and the CAA have allowed foreign airlines and foreign crews to set up significant bases in the United Kingdom and allowed recruitment practices to develop that prevent British citizens for applying for work in their own country. This is nothing short of discrimination based on national origin.
Its time now for foreign airlines with their significant bases of operation in the United Kingdom to be required to have British AOC 's and for their United Kingdom based crews to have United Kingdom CAA Licences. An ICAO Licenced pilot arriving in the UAE is only required to sit a single air Law exam on arrival in the UAE in order to be issued with a GCAA ATPL valid for employment with Emirates or flydubai. A very simple process which contrasts to the nationally and racially discriminatory way EASA requires 14 written exams and a flight test to be passed in order to issue an EASA Licence based on an ICAO Licence.
British pilots we are simply being turned over here prevented from finding work in our own country by foreign companies employing only foreign licensed pilots while the EASA licensing authority deliberately makes it next to impossible for British pilots to get EASA Licences.
This situation has to be bought to a stop. I would like every British Licensed pilot to file a complaint with the Equalities Commission citing that we are being discriminated against on the basis of our national origin and to write to their MP. If the situation is not resolved then further steps will need to be considered.which should include a national campaign to get the British public to boycott foreign airlines with bases in the United Kingdom and who do not recruit pilots with British Licences.