Airlines that have its pilots pay to fly

[Gilles Hudicourt]

Many shades of grey

Many people here state that such and such airline does not practice P2F but that another airline does. P2F has many ugly faces and takes different forms. How does one draw the line to say what one airline does is P2F and what another one does isn't ?

I must state that I work in Canada where paying for type ratings does not exist at the airline level and where P2F does not exist. Certain airlines have bonds, where you must re-imburse your training costs if you quit before working a certain amount of time for your employer, but no one pays up front for his training. In Canada and in the US, airlines do not hire low time pilots as SIC of airliners. One starts on Cessna's Beavers, Aztecs, Navajos, move up to Turbines on a Caravan, a King Air, a Pilatus, a Beech 1900, a Dash 8 and ATR-42 and smaller commercial jets before moving onto a large passenger jet on scheduled flights. There are exceptions, and some rare people sometimes skip a step or two of the ladder, but that is how it works for most.
So no 200 hour pilot in Canada or the US is going to pay a A320 or B737 type rating out of his pocket, because that will not get him hired by an airline.
No one is going to pay a type rating and 300 hours of line flying out of his pocket because no one is going to hire a 500 hours pilot who spent his 300 hours of line flying as PNF for LionAir.
My first jet was a B757. When I was hired on it, I already had about 6500 hours of flying under my belt, all of which I was paid for, except the first 250.
I have 7 type ratings on my licence. I never paid for any of them. My employers paid for them. I hope the business model that has taken root in Europe in certain other parts of the World never makes it to North America for I don't like it one bit.

Now about the different types of P2F.

Where some well established flight training facilities advertise a B-737NG type rating course for as little as $12,000 USD, what can we call it when RyanAir charges $33,000 USD for the same course, when you are not even guaranteed to be hired ? Is the training of pilots a profit center for RyanAir ? Are passengers offered cheaper flights thanks to the amount of profit the RyanAir pilot training center was able to generate on the backs of hopeful RyanAir pilots ?

At Travel Service, in the Czech Republic, I was told that new hires have to pay for their type rating. I do not know the amount they have to pay, but I think its hefty. Then, once they are hired, they are paid 660 Euros a month for the first 18 months, after which time they are paid 1200 Euros. In Canada a Beechcraft 1900 First Officer, about the cheapest scheduled flying job one can find, earns 1700 Euros a month. So when a pilot in the European Union, after being forced to pay his own type rating is stuck with flying a B737-800 full of paying passenger while getting paid 660 Euros a month for 18 months, can one consider that he is "paid to fly" or is this P2F as the others who do it more openly ?

I have heard of airlines who provide a $1000 per month salary to their pilots, but only after another contracting company, or a flight training company had charged the same pilot $50,000, or often much more, to secure that "job". Is that pilot "paid" or is it P2F ?

In the 17th and 18th century, many armies were led by officers that had not gained their military commissions through merit and experience, but paid for them. There was a price to become a Lieutenant, a Captain, a Major, a Colonel, not only to join the military, but also to get promotions once you were in. The richer people were always in command of the poor. This practice of selling military commissions has ceased in most modern countries now. Anyone care to take a wild guess on why this practice has ceased ?