Wannabee Situation is 'Dire'
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Wannabee Situation is 'Dire'
Observer Sunday 14th...
Looks like WWW is right, guys
Hundreds of trainee British pilots are facing the prospect of unemployment and financial ruin as demand for their skills slumps in the wake of the terror attacks on America.
The aviation industry has shed 150,000 jobs in recent weeks and recruitment has been frozen by almost every British airline, leaving air cadets facing a bleak future.
Some trainees are as much as £50,000 in debt after paying for lessons and dozens of hours of flying experience in the hope of landing coveted jobs with airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Most of the jobs command six-figure salaries.
An average of 600 trainee pilots graduate in Britain each year - roughly half of them self-financed. The rest are part-sponsored by the leading airlines, which pay half of the students' £50,000 fees, in return for which they get the chance - but no guarantee - of taking jobs with the airlines and paying back their sponsorship.
BA, British Midland and Britannia have already frozen their annual cadet sponsorship programmes for next year, which would have generated around 200 pilots.
Mike Briggs, chief instructor with the Triple A flying school based at Humberside Airport, said the situation was 'dire'. 'We knew bad times were coming before 11 September, but it's been a shock and I have not seen it as bad as this before - it's depressing,' said Briggs.
He said many of his cadet pilots were just 'kids who scrimp and save and send their CVs to the airlines every five minutes'.
Some of Britain's largest flying schools - such as those at Oxford, Cranfield, Elstree and Biggin Hill - are likely to suffer reductions in the number of trainee recruits, and Briggs warned that smaller flying schools could collapse.
One cadet at Biggin Hill Airport in Kent said: 'I'll fly for anyone, but people are only being laid off at the moment. It's as bad as it can get. It's a case of if BA goes bump, God help us.'
One victim of the slump is pilot Ian Driscoll. When not teaching students to fly tiny Cessna aircraft, he earns money working as a lifeguard at his local swimming pool in Hertfordshire. But his dream is to be a Concorde pilot for BA - an ambition dealt a massive blow by recent events.
Surrounded by charts and log books in the hangar at the tiny Elstree Aerodrome last week, Driscoll, 35, reflected on his waning prospects. 'I've got all my qualifications. But as soon as someone as big as BA starts laying off pilots they flood the market with experienced guys who can get a job ahead of me if the industry starts recruiting again.'
British-based airlines have already laid off or put on three months' notice 750 pilots since the 11 September attacks. A spokesman for the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) told The Observer that up to 1,000 pilots - out of the 13,000 working in the British industry - will lose their jobs in a matter of months.
Driscoll, who earns around £16,000 a year from lifeguarding duties and flying instruction with the Firecrest aviation school, has remortgaged his Watford home three times to absorb the burden of his £30,000 training debts.
'I have been hanging on by my fingernails for a long time. I've got no savings or pension because I'm so skint. My fiancée Rachel and I have been engaged for about 10 years but we can't afford to get married and start a family,' he said.
Driscoll had hoped to be taken on in the next six months by BA or any other airline. However, he said he had no idea when he would ever get to pull on a professional pilot's uniform.
John McGurk, a spokesman for Balpa, said pilots being laid off from the large airlines, including BA and Virgin, were the younger, inexperienced crew on a 'last in first out' basis. He said many still had not paid back the £50,000 in debts from their training fees. 'The pilots at the very top of the pile do earn around £100,000 but these people are earning more like £28,000 to £35,000,' he said.
These are the pilots who are likely to be first back in a job if things pick up, ahead of cadets still funding their way through air school like Driscoll. But he is determined to fulfil his dream. 'My ultimate ambition is to fly Concorde. I will never give up.'
[ 17 October 2001: Message edited by: RVR800 ]
Looks like WWW is right, guys
Hundreds of trainee British pilots are facing the prospect of unemployment and financial ruin as demand for their skills slumps in the wake of the terror attacks on America.
The aviation industry has shed 150,000 jobs in recent weeks and recruitment has been frozen by almost every British airline, leaving air cadets facing a bleak future.
Some trainees are as much as £50,000 in debt after paying for lessons and dozens of hours of flying experience in the hope of landing coveted jobs with airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Most of the jobs command six-figure salaries.
An average of 600 trainee pilots graduate in Britain each year - roughly half of them self-financed. The rest are part-sponsored by the leading airlines, which pay half of the students' £50,000 fees, in return for which they get the chance - but no guarantee - of taking jobs with the airlines and paying back their sponsorship.
BA, British Midland and Britannia have already frozen their annual cadet sponsorship programmes for next year, which would have generated around 200 pilots.
Mike Briggs, chief instructor with the Triple A flying school based at Humberside Airport, said the situation was 'dire'. 'We knew bad times were coming before 11 September, but it's been a shock and I have not seen it as bad as this before - it's depressing,' said Briggs.
He said many of his cadet pilots were just 'kids who scrimp and save and send their CVs to the airlines every five minutes'.
Some of Britain's largest flying schools - such as those at Oxford, Cranfield, Elstree and Biggin Hill - are likely to suffer reductions in the number of trainee recruits, and Briggs warned that smaller flying schools could collapse.
One cadet at Biggin Hill Airport in Kent said: 'I'll fly for anyone, but people are only being laid off at the moment. It's as bad as it can get. It's a case of if BA goes bump, God help us.'
One victim of the slump is pilot Ian Driscoll. When not teaching students to fly tiny Cessna aircraft, he earns money working as a lifeguard at his local swimming pool in Hertfordshire. But his dream is to be a Concorde pilot for BA - an ambition dealt a massive blow by recent events.
Surrounded by charts and log books in the hangar at the tiny Elstree Aerodrome last week, Driscoll, 35, reflected on his waning prospects. 'I've got all my qualifications. But as soon as someone as big as BA starts laying off pilots they flood the market with experienced guys who can get a job ahead of me if the industry starts recruiting again.'
British-based airlines have already laid off or put on three months' notice 750 pilots since the 11 September attacks. A spokesman for the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) told The Observer that up to 1,000 pilots - out of the 13,000 working in the British industry - will lose their jobs in a matter of months.
Driscoll, who earns around £16,000 a year from lifeguarding duties and flying instruction with the Firecrest aviation school, has remortgaged his Watford home three times to absorb the burden of his £30,000 training debts.
'I have been hanging on by my fingernails for a long time. I've got no savings or pension because I'm so skint. My fiancée Rachel and I have been engaged for about 10 years but we can't afford to get married and start a family,' he said.
Driscoll had hoped to be taken on in the next six months by BA or any other airline. However, he said he had no idea when he would ever get to pull on a professional pilot's uniform.
John McGurk, a spokesman for Balpa, said pilots being laid off from the large airlines, including BA and Virgin, were the younger, inexperienced crew on a 'last in first out' basis. He said many still had not paid back the £50,000 in debts from their training fees. 'The pilots at the very top of the pile do earn around £100,000 but these people are earning more like £28,000 to £35,000,' he said.
These are the pilots who are likely to be first back in a job if things pick up, ahead of cadets still funding their way through air school like Driscoll. But he is determined to fulfil his dream. 'My ultimate ambition is to fly Concorde. I will never give up.'
[ 17 October 2001: Message edited by: RVR800 ]
Riddled with comical inaccuracies of course. I really wish journalists would run these articles under someones nose before printing them.
All in all pretty gloomy I agree. Some cause for hope is that the low cost boys HAVE continued to recruit and have maintained plans to expand next year albeit a little slower.
Also BA loads other than TA seem to be holding up OK and the general UK ecomomy seems not to be in a nosedive.
Things might be as bad as 1991 but I do not think they will be worse.
WWW
All in all pretty gloomy I agree. Some cause for hope is that the low cost boys HAVE continued to recruit and have maintained plans to expand next year albeit a little slower.
Also BA loads other than TA seem to be holding up OK and the general UK ecomomy seems not to be in a nosedive.
Things might be as bad as 1991 but I do not think they will be worse.
WWW
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Yeah it's tough right now, just prior to September 11th I was feeling pretty good about prospects, like many people in the same boat as me I've been fairly down about recent events.
I'm going to keep current, keep building experience and keep pushing for that job, it's all I can do.
It looks like there are still opprotunities out there, but we just have to fight harder for them. It always was an uphill struggle, the incline's gone up quite a bit.
I'm going to keep current, keep building experience and keep pushing for that job, it's all I can do.
It looks like there are still opprotunities out there, but we just have to fight harder for them. It always was an uphill struggle, the incline's gone up quite a bit.
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PJ and WWW,
u know what, i agree with u at the minute on this one. it looks bad.
as ever though, shocking "tabloid" style journo ing from the observer.
PJ, give us a call one evening fella. Not working till Friday.
u know what, i agree with u at the minute on this one. it looks bad.
as ever though, shocking "tabloid" style journo ing from the observer.
PJ, give us a call one evening fella. Not working till Friday.
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As you know, I was forecasting the recession in the industry well before 11/09. Personally, I'm convinced that this recession is going to be considerably more severe than the 1991-94 one and may well develop into a depression. Certainly, that's what Warren Buffet believes - he was forecasting an eight year slump prior to 11/09.
From a wannabe point of view, it's disasterous as the number of qualified and experienced pilots will swamp the market for years to come; and as I've said elsewhere terms and conditions in the industry will change radically.
From a wannabe point of view, it's disasterous as the number of qualified and experienced pilots will swamp the market for years to come; and as I've said elsewhere terms and conditions in the industry will change radically.
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Yes the Guv does get a lot of stick for being a doom monger, however I don't believe the situation is quite that bad - but it's pretty bad. My view is that there will be a fairly mild recession that we will start to pull out of in 12-18 months, and the pilot market will start to pick up again in about 18-24 months (being optimistic!).
The main reason for the 91 recession was not the Gulf War but the cost of the decadence of the 1980s (and Tory mismanagement of the economy......easy.....bit of politics). We are in a much stronger long term position economically now. Sit tight, it might take a while but it will turn around.
The main reason for the 91 recession was not the Gulf War but the cost of the decadence of the 1980s (and Tory mismanagement of the economy......easy.....bit of politics). We are in a much stronger long term position economically now. Sit tight, it might take a while but it will turn around.
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Guvnor - do you want a pat on the back for predicting a downturn ?
As for a depression - get real - the key economic indicators ie. Inflation/ Interest rate/ unemployment/ PSBR do not reflect you doom mongering.
PS It's a recession when your neighbour looses his job and a depression when you lose yours.
As for a depression - get real - the key economic indicators ie. Inflation/ Interest rate/ unemployment/ PSBR do not reflect you doom mongering.
PS It's a recession when your neighbour looses his job and a depression when you lose yours.
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I obtained my licence in 1991 just when the gulf war was in full swing.Shortly after that Air Europe and Dan Air went pear shaped.About 500 pilots where on the market and jobs were hard to come by then even for experienced guys.It took about 3 yrs to soak up this surplus and 5 yrs for me to get my first job.I beleive the situation is much worse now and who knows what the future holds but its not looking good.On the plus side if things can get moving again over the next 9 months then I beleive companies will be falling over themselves to recruit pilots.We will all have to wait and see.
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If all the Allies do is pound Afghanistan into even more rubble and don't broker a long term workable peace for the Palestinians and Israelis (the root of most if not all of the instability in the region and hence the world), then I fear that this uncertain and unstable situation will last for many years to come. The consequence being that the travelling public will remain too scared/nervous to travel.
There is still hope for all wannabes (including me) - let's see what happens.
There is still hope for all wannabes (including me) - let's see what happens.
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Six Figure Salaries....Myself being one of the lucky few ofcourse! It's not WHAT we're earning,it's what people THINK we're earning that really matters.In this way we really can THINK we can pay off all of our DEBTS.
Laaavley.
Laaavley.
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Well I guess there are lots of jobs in the armed forces going with all the military action, why not apply to them...Seems to me they never really have highs and lows in recruitement.
I think the only airline which is doing well at the moment is Qantas and it's still running a cadet course next year! Obviously with there now no competition in the domestic scene apart from Virgin Blue, QF has made up in loss of capacity on int'l routes with the increased demand for domestic flights. And before you all ask yes, the Ansett crews will flood the market but are currently being swallowed up by QF for part time contracts.
Personally, I think things will pick up in 6-12 months time....it has too, people and things need to fly.
If the big carriers don't take action now, they will lose money and fold. If they airlines retained all thier employees' now when they are at reduced capacity they will lose big $$$, eventually sending the whole airline bust...therefore making redundant their whole pilot workforce not just a % of them......that would be far worse in the long term than this, all be it awful, temporary situation.
I think the only airline which is doing well at the moment is Qantas and it's still running a cadet course next year! Obviously with there now no competition in the domestic scene apart from Virgin Blue, QF has made up in loss of capacity on int'l routes with the increased demand for domestic flights. And before you all ask yes, the Ansett crews will flood the market but are currently being swallowed up by QF for part time contracts.
Personally, I think things will pick up in 6-12 months time....it has too, people and things need to fly.
If the big carriers don't take action now, they will lose money and fold. If they airlines retained all thier employees' now when they are at reduced capacity they will lose big $$$, eventually sending the whole airline bust...therefore making redundant their whole pilot workforce not just a % of them......that would be far worse in the long term than this, all be it awful, temporary situation.
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At the moment in the UK we have a relatively
favourable economic climate
low interest rates
low/falling unempoloyment
falling fuel prices
growth rates around 2%
We are talking ourselves into following
the US into a slowdown
Having said that my willingness to spend
around £5.00/minute on multi-engine IR
training is 'under review'..
favourable economic climate
low interest rates
low/falling unempoloyment
falling fuel prices
growth rates around 2%
We are talking ourselves into following
the US into a slowdown
Having said that my willingness to spend
around £5.00/minute on multi-engine IR
training is 'under review'..
