The dozen or so posts above this one are full of incorrect information. The problem is that the people posting them are confusing Ryanair TR costs with EZ TR and Line Training costs. They are also confusing EZ salary for CTC grads and OAA grads. They are not both paid the same.
The Ryanair TR is 28,500 Euros, not £35,000.
I don't recall the EZ TR price for CTC Wings ATP students, but I think it's very low (£7,000 or so), as are the initial EZ wages. CTC EZ pay is about £1,200 per month for the first half year or so. This is why the TR apparently costs less, but does it really? The TR and Base Training costs are simply buried and concealed in the salary sacrifice. However, since there is no high salary with deductions in the first place, the airline's matching National Insurance contributions are lower and they could pocket this.
Does anyone know of a single CTC EZ Flexicrew that has been based outside of the UK initially? It would appear there is an unspoken restriction against this and the only logical reason I can think of for it is that this is somehow related to UK tax issues that the FOs are completely unaware of. In other words, the airline is getting a tax break. They might be pocketing the advantage (Lower NI and VAT reclamation on the TR perhaps?) as a reduced expense, which increases profit, or they may be passing it off to the Cadet FO in the form of an apparently lower TR cost.
OAA EZ pilots are paid £50 per hour during line training, but they pay £35,000 for the Type Rating, Base Training and Line Training. Their pay goes up when they achieve 500 hours on type. They are Parc contractors, but not Flexicrew. Flexicrew is only for CTC EZ pilots. Some OAA EZ pilots who started about 12-15 months ago are now moving on as permanent EZ employees. This is through permanent positions arising and a competitive selection process and it requires a minimum of 500 hours on type and of course a vacancy.
The Original Poster would do well to locate some graduates from both CTC and OAA that fly for both airlines and get the facts straight from the horses mouth about each scheme. Otherwise, he is likely to end up looking like the other end of the horse.
Unfortunately, it won't be as easy to do this as posting a question on here; quality information is not always easy to get, but you surely had better get quality info before you invest the sums involved.
Last edited by Adios; 5th Mar 2011 at 11:22.