BA Direct Entry Pilot.
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: England
Posts: 343
Hi all,
I am a bit of a glass half full kind of a guy so this is my personal take on things.
Cadets, be they FPP or whitetail can go only go onto short haul. They also need about 40 training sectors to get to line check as opposed to about 10 for DEPs. Therefore the ratio of cadets to DEPs has huge effect on the ability of the training department to get pilots onto the line, and consequently how quickly senior A320 FOs can be allowed off short haul and into training for their desired long haul slots.
40 slot pairs may only support 10 short haul aircraft at one end of the spectrum but 40 long haul aircraft at the other. Each long haul aircraft probably requires about 7 Captains and 10 FOs depending on the destinations. BA clearly want to compete with Norwegian so I expect a good percentage of the slots to be long haul ones.
Clearly there are issues such as magicing up aircraft to fill those slots and training the crews in a short period to fill possibly 15 long haul and 6 short haul aircraft. I suspect that a rough figure of 300 pilots will be needed.
All in my opinion. All the best to those in the pool.
I am a bit of a glass half full kind of a guy so this is my personal take on things.
Cadets, be they FPP or whitetail can go only go onto short haul. They also need about 40 training sectors to get to line check as opposed to about 10 for DEPs. Therefore the ratio of cadets to DEPs has huge effect on the ability of the training department to get pilots onto the line, and consequently how quickly senior A320 FOs can be allowed off short haul and into training for their desired long haul slots.
40 slot pairs may only support 10 short haul aircraft at one end of the spectrum but 40 long haul aircraft at the other. Each long haul aircraft probably requires about 7 Captains and 10 FOs depending on the destinations. BA clearly want to compete with Norwegian so I expect a good percentage of the slots to be long haul ones.
Clearly there are issues such as magicing up aircraft to fill those slots and training the crews in a short period to fill possibly 15 long haul and 6 short haul aircraft. I suspect that a rough figure of 300 pilots will be needed.
All in my opinion. All the best to those in the pool.
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: London
Posts: 125
Originally Posted by SkyRocket10
I have it on good authority from a senior manager at LGW that all the additional slots will be operated by wet leased aircraft this summer. Therefore, I would expect any recruitment to be for 2018.
I'm sure it has occurred to the recruitment team at BA that there is a looming requirement for more pilots as a result of the Monarch slots / increased retirements / increased part time / JSS etc. At the same time they will be aware that by allowing the hold pool to expire there will be a costly requirement to re-run the entire selection process. I don't believe that outcome is in BA's interests as they would lose access to the immediate supply of quality people that the hold pool was intended to supply. As others have pointed out, relying entirely on cadets risks being unable to deliver the necessary training programme.
Even if recruitment of DEP's is not imminent, some sort of fudge to allow the current hold poolers access to jobs beyond their existing expiry dates looks likely to me.
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Runcorn,Cheshire,England
Posts: 86
BA can’t plan for what remains of Wednesday. I think you underestimate the l evels of ineptitude within middle management in BA. Having served 18years, I will guarantee that at some point it will dawn on them that these new slots require shed loads of drivers; and the flood gates will open again. That coupled with the new rostering system to be introduced in June, which already looks like being a crock of sh1t3, will lead a drive for more pilots.
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Coast to Coast...
Posts: 152
I would suggest that any experienced pilot applying for a BA job in the future not bother until BA have signed and delivered to you a note that promises your employment ahead of any cadet. Otherwise you're wasting your time, effort and money on what is essentially a recruitment methodology that is as worse as RYRs (remember the outrage when they charged €250? well attending BA assessment days can cost some people £2,000 a pop if they're travelling from the Sandpit or Far East over 2 or 3 separate days).
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: The Winchester
Posts: 5,913
Must admit that post made me giggle as well... many a true word, or perhaps “if Carlsberg did posts describing the workings of BA”.....
Perhaps I should explain to our onlookers that IMHO a lot of this confusion as to what day of the week it is /which plan are we on today is of course not helped the increasing use of yammer as an official comms tool...
Perhaps I should explain to our onlookers that IMHO a lot of this confusion as to what day of the week it is /which plan are we on today is of course not helped the increasing use of yammer as an official comms tool...
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 291
Originally Posted by Smooth Airperator
I would suggest that any experienced pilot applying for a BA job in the future not bother until BA have signed and delivered to you a note that promises your employment ahead of any cadet. Otherwise you're wasting your time, effort and money on what is essentially a recruitment methodology that is as worse as RYRs (remember the outrage when they charged €250? well attending BA assessment days can cost some people £2,000 a pop if they're travelling from the Sandpit or Far East over 2 or 3 separate days).
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: The Winchester
Posts: 5,913
if I were in the hold pool and "expired" I'd want my expenses to be reimbursed.
This is the airline that has been trying very hard to terminate it’s policy of reimbursing employes for expenses incurred if they use an AME external to BA for their Class 1’s and it is also the operator which (unlike some others) won’t fork out to provide any form of respiratory protection for employees currently slipping in DEL.
Good luck claiming for expenses as a non employee.
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: under the sea
Posts: 2,501
Originally Posted by GS-Alpha
Wet leases may be an option being considered for the short term, but I do not believe for one moment that a final decision has actually been made yet. BA just do not work that fast.
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: The Winchester
Posts: 5,913
Average-p
Yes it would, but sadly you (and others) now have another insight into the “BA way”.
I’d be interested if any other airlines have been known to reimburse expenses in similar circumstances.
it certainly would be th decent thing to do.
I’d be interested if any other airlines have been known to reimburse expenses in similar circumstances.
Join Date: May 2009
Location: somewhere in the middle
Posts: 257
I don’t have the emails to hand (given that I went through selection a while ago, and lots happened since then), but I remember it stating explicitly that BA wouldn’t reimburse any costs incurred by candidates attending waterside.
Supercharged PPRuNer
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Doon the watter, a million miles from the sandpit.
Posts: 1,166
My most recent interview where expenses were reimbursed was in 1990.
Since then, off the top of my head, Ive had at least 13 job interviews, and no-one - in any industry - has offered to pay for expenses. (The only exception was airlines in the sandpit, who provided an air ticket and hotac for the interview).
It's not just BA that won't pay, it's the modern world.
Since then, off the top of my head, Ive had at least 13 job interviews, and no-one - in any industry - has offered to pay for expenses. (The only exception was airlines in the sandpit, who provided an air ticket and hotac for the interview).
It's not just BA that won't pay, it's the modern world.
Join Date: May 2009
Location: somewhere in the middle
Posts: 257
I would find wet-leases probably using aircraft from a pariah state of the Middle East particularly galling...
PPRuNe Secret Agent!
Moderator
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: West Sussex, UK
Posts: 1,547
Could be short notice for ‘quality’ wet-leased available aircraft/crews - especially given ACMI recruitment and its short-term contract nature!
Would BA use Latvian/Lithuanian registered aircraft?!?
Would BA use Latvian/Lithuanian registered aircraft?!?
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 31
Got the update email as well, limited number of offers to be made for starting date in march 2018. That's at least something positive! From no DEP in 2018, to a limited number. I do however wonder if its just for type rated guys and gals seeing as the update mentioned, 'for those eligble'.
