Originally Posted by
Pilotsfather
I’m not so sure what the best route would be.
When my son started his training (pre COVID), upon balance of probabilities of securing first FO position, we opted for integrated.
Unfortunately since completing his fATPL and MCC, he’s been in the flying school pool. EasyJet came to the school in November and wanted some pilots, my son due to COVID-19 restrictions finished 1 week later than some of his group. At that time he missed out.
However since then they have requested for more pilots in February, this time easyJet are saying that his training finished more than 12 months ago and they want freshly trained pilots. They have bypassed some 30 pilots in the pool.
I have spoken to BALPA and CAA, they are very sympathetic and find this easyJet policy immoral, however they cannot help.
My advice would be to do MPL
Which flying school did you go through?
I know a reasonably large number of people (more than I can count on my fingers at least) who graduated in the midst of covid (mostly from a company called Leading Edge, a couple from FTE and a few dotted around CAE/Skyborne/FTA), a couple of years before recruitment started picking up.
Despite this, they have now all got jobs at various places - predominantly wizz and Ryanair, but if you want a comprehensive list to give to your son to have a look at I've seen Wizz, RYR, LoganAir, Jet2, and DHL. That's a lot of airlines to apply to, and I'm sure there are more than that, but those are the names I recall.
EasyJet is likely saturated by their MPL programme, but horizons are far broader than them: those I know at Wizz now also say that as a first airline they are a fairly pleasant place to work -
Wizz Air UK pilot jobs news for airline pilots and aviation schools (pilotjobsnetwork.com) - and their salary is now in line with the likes of easyJet as well assuming flying hours do not tank.
I don't want to accuse you or your son of 'tunnel visioning' EasyJet, but provided your son's training performance was good, and ideally if his CV contains things other than A Levels->ATO, I don't see why there isn't a job he can get at the moment: compared to what things looked like not that long ago, there are an awful lot out there.
And with some of those I know now looking for their second jobs, there is a reasonable outflow of pilots from those 'starter' airlines as well.
EasyJet is not the be all and end all of one's career, and I don't think missing out on a job offer from them because of unfortunate timings is necessarily a sufficient argument to tie yourself to the airline if you don't feel comfortable doing so in this climate. With that argument, university graduates who miss the cut for a scheme from one company would be saying there is no point doing a degree.