I can only come on here and speak from my own experiences as an ex-CTCer. I have no agenda other than to answer questions and offer a viewpoint as to what it's like being on the Cadet course, and offer my own personal opinion that at the moment, I feel it's a bad time to spend all that money on an integrated course. I say that because:
a) A lot of my colleagues are now in their second year of 6-month summer contracts wondering how they are going to keep paying their loans in the winter months, and indications from some of the airlines involved are that there will be no recruitment / FlexiCrew only for the forseeable future.
b) Some of those that started flying on the line in spring this year actually finished the course in the middle of last year and had a long wait, watching the interest on their loans mount up.
c) The holding pool is filling up fast with new cadets; when next year's recruitment starts, will the airlines be able to soak up all the previous years' six-month lot in addition to those coming in at the bottom now?
It's good to know the company are being restrained in their approach to questions about job placement and timing. Even so, it doesn't alter
my opinion, and it is only my opinion, that now is a bad time to fork out all that money on training.
I would be absolutely delighted to eat my own hat if BA really do take on 400 new pilot recruits in 2011.
