You don't need to get a PPL. You can add an SEP rating to an MPL

Yes you can also add other type ratings to an MPL

Awesome, thank you for your help!

Gone and forgotten
 

To update all here,

easyJet have decided to close the aforementioned GePTP, and as a result, have revoked our conditional employment offers.

The options given are to continue with the programme, and complete the MPL, on the understanding that there is no longer a job at the end.
The alternative is to speak to our ATO and request a conversion to CPL/IR for additional cost (cost TBC).

It is a hard decision for them to make, and even harder for us to hear it who have spent 2years (due to delays) getting to this stage.

Wish everyone the very best.

I can guarantee it wasn't a hard a decision for them.

I am very sorry to hear that this has happened. I cannot pretend to be surprised but I do feel for those who are affected. With a full A320 type rating and ATPL+ living expenses you are talking about 150K or so of expenses (Along with a significant period of time without income). It is a large debt- but one which is acceptable in general for the starting salary of 40K or so. Sadly due to COVID-19 this is not the case. I am currently in training elsewhere and I also feel this greif.

I'm sorry to hear the news. If you wish to continue training, my recommendation would be to take the option your ATO are not offering you, which is to leave them, get a PPL and go modular. It will, as you probably know, cost you about half what CAE/L3 were going to charge you and leave you in control of your own training.

Anyone who isn't near the finishing post is probably best to cut their losses and get credit for any training they may have received.

Some people over the coming months and into 2021 may well end up declaring themselves bankrupt or their homes repossessed as a result of this, all this personal financial risk to just become an employee of a multi million pound business where you are mostly considered disposable...

Madness.

It is the shame the industry has got to the point where such significant financial obligations are required. I am currently training abroad and will come out with about half of the debt of those who are getting the Easyjet MPL and ATPL schemes so I consider myself fortunate. I am under no illusions that the job market will be dire in the coming years. At my school the number of people interested in instructing has soared so the once reliable route to building hours is no longer present. I will have to look for alternative employment till the situation recovers. Fortunately I am in my early 20s so I have years left to turn it around, but I know of many who are older with dependants and this is a much more difficult time.

"The options given are to continue with the programme, and complete the MPL, on the understanding that there is no longer a job at the end."

So one of the options they've offerred you is to continue throwing money at them and they'll give you absolutely nothing in return?
At least they're honest about it, but disgusting that it's even an option.

It's impossible for a training academy to offer you an airline pilot job... The most altruistic thing they can do is freeze you payments untill things get better... no one with a business will do this...

While the school cannot guarantee you a job in the end, they can at least guarantee that, if things go south, you'll graduate jobless but with a transferable qualification. Why would they even offer you an MPL for an airline which is no longer interested in hiring you, at least not anytime soon? The one and only right thing for them to do would be to offer those continuing their training a free switch from the MPL to the ATPL programme, so that they graduate with a licence that's actually usable outside EZY.

You need to really consider redundancy law also. MPL airlines such as EZY are making pilots redundant. They cannot under employment law then take on new recruits such as MPL graduates. We all know that. More importantly is the union deals etc that will be done to commit to take redundant pilots back on when things pick up. Flying school graduates are going to have a long wait before jobs become available, by then you are looking at instrument ratings expired and no cash to keep them valid.
I would try and flip to some form of modular programme under the cost/fee already paid to the flight school and really stretch the remainder of training out for as long as possible to try and qualify as far in the future as possible.

So, as a further update, I agree with so many of the comments here. It is likely many may believe that going to CAE/L3 is naïve and that we deserved this (as some have stated in others forums). For me, it was more for the position of employment. Trust me in saying, had I got rejected for the MPL programme, I would have indeed gone modular without a doubt.

Some of us have paid approx. £80k, and are currently with no job, no license and an uncertain future. To explain the options more:
1) We continue the MPL EZY syllabus, but must now also provide financing for our base training, required to make the licence even valid.
2) Convert to the ATPL, but depending on which phase of training we are at, will result in some significant financial cost.
3) We walk away. Walking away is an option, but are stating that for the hours we have received, will total £70k inc. accommodation. This is outrageous, considering we have 70hrs SEP, 5hrs Night, 11hrs MEP. That, groundschool and accommodation in no way comes to £70k. Looks like there may be a long battle ahead...

I have spoken to modular ATOs, and they are seeking advice from the CAA to see which hours from the training can be accredited to the traditional route.

If anyone can offer advice, please do.

As I say, I appreciate I could be seen as “naïve” and deserved what I got for choosing schools like those above, but right now during such difficult times, you’d hope people would be there to offer help and support than put others down.

Thanks all.

The outrageous thing is paying 120k£ to get a training which only costs 60k£ or even less while deciding to pay for a TR even before starting your first ground school class, distorting the market for anyone else.

120k£ is only partly justifiable if you tell me your paying for ATPL+TR+LT+500hrs, which would make certain FTOs pure P2F organizations.

Regardless of the route people have taken to get qualified, the immovable fact is that non of you are getting jobs in the near future. My advice to those that posses the genuine resolve to make this happen, is to cut your losses and continue your training at your own pace. There may be an increased cost involved. As for modular costing half integrated, some might say that when the market does pick up (it eventually will), the number of spots available for noobs will be a great deal smaller than what we’ve been used to. Supply and demand comes into force, usually this scenario favours the integrated candidates over modular. Same goes for type rated over non type rated pilots.

bulldog89

Exactly. They p2f an obscene amount that distorted the entire market for (had corona not happened) the entire new generation of pilots who couldn't afford paying 2 or even 3 times for an actual license. No sympathies from me.

These stats are a couple of years old (even more to be honest), but show something really interesting about the "big 3", "integrated is better" and bla bla bla.
The source is one of the main low hours employers in Europe; just look at airmanship, handling and TEM keeping in mind cadets from FTE and OAA also went through the so called JOC.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....919a8d23ba.jpg
Scores: 0 to 100

As CABAIR ceased trading in October 2011, nearly nine years ago, the relevance of this historical information although interesting, is somewhat diminished, if no longer valid.

Sound training within the first 20 hours or so is absolutely critical. The fundamentals of being able to select the prescribed attitude, with accurate trimming, cannot be over emphasised.
You need these basic skills even more so in the MCC/APS phase.

It must not be a question of trying to get someone solo in minimum time, or teaching them the basic pre solo exercises whilst flying the circuit.

Get the basic elements correct, and the RED scores will turn GREEN when QUALITY training is undertaken, even in busy schools.

I still feel lots of denial from those who were advocating for integrated as "the premium route" a couple of years ago. And I think that it's time to wake up. Gone are the days when it had the unique selling point of having a job (almost certainly) attached to it. After the massive blow to all cadet programs, people will be extremely cautious over paying two or three times as much as a modular course for the dubious "guarantee" of some salesman who has no true influence on anyone's employment prospects. The trend for airlines to prioritise integrated cadets over modular ones started subsiding a couple of years ago. Now it has been completely shattered as there will be hardly any place for any cadet in the market until at least 2-3 years from now, maybe more.

What do I think those caught in the eye of the storm should do? Try to minimise your losses. If that means pulling out of the now useless MPL - that's exactly what you should do. Take whatever credit is available and complete your training with a reputable modular school, aiming NOT to graduate before at least 2 years from now. This way, you will have saved a ton of money and you will still have the most important modules (IR, MCC, JOC) nice and fresh at the time hiring picks up.

The great recession kicked off in 2007 with many airlines going bust. Ryanair aside, it was 2014 before the wider airline industry started to recruit cadets in any significant numbers. Anyone considering starting or continuing flight training right now should mull over this piece of history carefully.

World War 2 effected the world tremendously, changed lives forever and took time to recover from. My grandfather told me it was a couple of years after the war before bananas arrived back in the UK..... life goes on and this generation will come out the other side of this global life changing event, just try to be as wise as possible in the meantime and keep short accounts.