A Worrying Trend ... Or is It?
With the success of airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet it now seems that low cost operators are now favouring the idea of making the pilot candidate pay for their type-ratings. This will normally be associated with a decreased pay scale for a certain period.
e.g. At Ryanair you don't recieve a wage until your initial 6 month period is up.
The question is, Is this a fair way for airlines to act?
The low cost airlines are making record profits at the moment and surely should be expected to fund the type training of their pilots. I understand that airlines have to protect themselves from pilots gaining a free type-rating only to then leave the company, so a bond agreement is not a bad idea. This bond however doesn't constitute a sponsorship, so why are airlines like easyjet making people pay a bond and then reducing thier wages aswell!!
My main concern is that in the past airlines have generally wanted a guarantee of payment for a bond if you leave from your contract, this was possible for most people. This is now changing to actually paying a large amount upfront, further adding to the large debt mountain most self sponsored pilots have accrued.
Now before you all go mad at me for looking a gift horse in the mouth, I really just want to find out others opinions on this subject and whether they feel that they could afford to go down this path.
i.e. If ryanair said you have a job if you can pay £25,000 to us now for the type rating, could you pay it?