Originally Posted by
NoelEvans
It appears very much that pilots are wanting British licences, because this is where the jobs are.
So much so that BA and Virgin are willing to sponsor visas for pilots coming from outside of the UK, if they are able to get a UK license, which could be through any of the routes, some of which are significantly easier than others, just by virtue of when you happened to sit your ATPL exams and take your skills tests for the CPL and IR.... note, not through any regulatory or curricula/standards differences, just an arbitary date. Why should it be easy and cheap for some, and difficult and expensive for others? And how does the above situation help British pilots secure jobs in the UK, when airlines are happy and can presumably show cause to apply for visas for non-nationals?