Air France/KLM & Lufthansa Sponsorships

[Re-Heat]

Has anyone applied to their sponsorships and been invited to interview at all - especially anyone from the UK? Even more interested if anyone from the UK who speaks that language has got through?

Curious to see whether it is all heavily weighted in favour of those who come from the local countries, or just us Brits being useless at languages (as per usual).

Additionally any Germans, Dutch or French who have been for interview and been for interview or got through to training - what was the selection process like? Has it changed from the Lufthansa DLR writeup posted a while ago? Does anyone know anything about Air France/KLM ones?

Many thanks in advance

Not looking for comments on the French or Germans...

[fokkerking!]

the KLM one isn't sponsored, you just have to pay for yourself, and there are no job guarantees, you should also be able to speak and understand dutch. Lufthansa one is in german, but partially sponsored and with a job guarantee. AF is fully sponsored I believe and with a job guarantee.

[winch launch]

I ll go ahead with the AF cadet scheme,

They don t care what country you come from (if it s in europe), as long as you speak PERFECT french. Good english is becoming one of the most important criteria.
From what I understand :
Selection starts with 2 tests, one being an english test, and the other being an aray of different types of questions with logic IQ type questions, general aviation knowledge, psychothingy questions....
The next step is the psychometric tests. Many people, even french natives, fail on the french/comprehension test, this is why it s probably very hard for people not having french as their 1st language to pass that step, but maybe doable.
Then you get group interviews, an other interview with a few psychologists, and a 3rd one with a couple of pilots.
If you are serious about attempting AF selections try www.devenirpiloteairfrance.com.
One last thing, for the cadet selection if you don t have the theoretical ATPL, you ll need some kind of university background (mainly science orientated). If your high school, and uni wasn t french, you ll have to see with them if they accept what you did to apply. That was my case : International baccalaureat, and british uni background, but they agreed to accept my application as they like it for the english.

Good luck

[Re-Heat]

Cheers for the information:

Does anyone know the upper age limits for the schemes? Might be able to get the German up to speed, but my standard of French is woeful at the moment...might have the time to improve it if the upper age limit is sufficiently high!

I assume KLM/Air France schemes have not merged then?

[winch launch]

For air france cadet scheme,

If you have only the theoretical ATPL, it s age 23 max.
If you have uni background, i think it s around 26.

[Piltdown Man]

Honestly, I can not see the schemes merging. You pay in the KLM scheme (with no guarantee of a job) and the AF scheme where they pay and supply the job. However, they are very picky (and who would blame them).

[microburst8265]

Lufthansa:

no special prerequisites except for what's got to be the A-Levels in the UK (Abitur in Germany)
age limit for application is still 25 as far as I can recall.
fluent in english and german
EU national or permanent resident of Germany

Want more?:
www.lufthansa-pilot.com

You should have a sufficient knowledge of German, since all instructors will speak German in class.

Screening: 2 x 2days, both times at the DLR in Hamburg

First selection to make sure that you have the basic skills to fly an A/C one day....

Second phase to check how well you fit in the company's profile...


Give it a try, it is well worth it! 40k€ that Lufthansa wants in return for the whole deal, but job guaranteed ;-)

cheers