Matty,
Here is the story of the danish Pilots that I said I would copy and paste:
The world’s first MPL-rated airline pilots are to be laid off this November. Danish carrier Sterling Airlines are dismissing 61 employees as part of cutbacks forced on the carrier due to high fuel prices and the economic downturn, and the MPL-rated pilots will be amongst those to go.
The thirteen MPL pilots are due to finish with Sterling this November and given their training at Danish Center Air Pilot Academy was focused specifically on Sterling Airlines standard operating procedures (SOPs), they may find it hard to find employment elsewhere.
Sterling's chief pilot Claus Gammelgaard told FTN that the dismissal of the MPL pilots was in no way related to their piloting skills, but merely based on their last-in, first-out employment practise. He said that they were "extremely satisfied" with their level of piloting ability, but faced with the need for redundancies Sterling had no option but to dismiss them.
But hopefully all is not lost for these pilots, as according to when they joined the airline (the first started last October) they will have amassed between 500 and 800 hours each on Sterling’s Boeing 737NG fleet by the time they finish. Additionally, Claus told FTN that while the pilot’s training was focused on the airline’s SOPs, they are in turn closely modelled on Boeing’s own, so hopefully other airlines will look favourably on them given the relatively small amount of extra training that will be involved. Due to the constraints of their licence however, which affords them multi-crew piloting privileges in 737NG aircraft only, their employability will be limited to airlines who operate the same aircraft as Sterling and in the current climate it could be some time before they find new positions.
This is the worrying aspect. I would check check and double check everything in the contract if I was going for the MPL. I hope these guys got jobs.
This story was written on August 11 2008