Swiss Pilot Shortage
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2024
Posts: 11
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From: Australia
Swiss Pilot Shortage
So Swiss allegedly are short on pilots and cancelling flights because of it. Citing needing 110 pilots annually to fill the retirement positions and facilitate growth… Any chance they’ll do the same thing as KLM and drop the German language requirement?
Joined: Aug 2024
Posts: 14
Likes: 6
From: Helsinki
Switzerland has 4 official languages, why to speak German with a Zurich accent?
Joined: Sep 2010
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 886
Likes: 235
From: by the seaside
30 years ago it was a good place to work but difficult for foreigners; bad enough the attitude between the Swiss Germans and the Romaine let alone the Swiss Italians (there were none iirc in Swissair). My wife couldn’t hack the racism especially after our 5 year old daughter was beaten up at kindergarten by a group of boys in front of the teacher and came home to ask me what auslander pack meant- foreign scum.
23% of the pilot force were foreigners in 1980; direct entry captains had long ceased and eventually Crossair was built up to undermine the SR pilot force employment conditions and being based at Basel could ignore the Swiss employment criteria.
I was one of the last group of foreigners; the largest part of which were English speaking but no requirement for German - Swiss German isn’t German with a Zurich accent.
Years later as one of the few English that spoke Swiss German after some very personal private lessons one of the chiefs said they would never recruit Brits again.
The flying and training was miles above BA standards as were the conditions- at the time of my interview we could afford to go out for a meal once a year..we didn’t get compensation for our previous experience due to some Dutch ex klm flight school guys but starting salary was double my BA 7 year one and a British captain said that I should be able to take my family out to eat 5 times a week on that. I didn’t really believe him but after a year I was renting a house for around chf2,500 a month. Certainly is a beautiful country and at this old age having had my wife the victim of crime yet again in france I would appreciate living in a police state even if I had to listen to Hals krankheit although at one time I dreamt in it.
23% of the pilot force were foreigners in 1980; direct entry captains had long ceased and eventually Crossair was built up to undermine the SR pilot force employment conditions and being based at Basel could ignore the Swiss employment criteria.
I was one of the last group of foreigners; the largest part of which were English speaking but no requirement for German - Swiss German isn’t German with a Zurich accent.
Years later as one of the few English that spoke Swiss German after some very personal private lessons one of the chiefs said they would never recruit Brits again.
The flying and training was miles above BA standards as were the conditions- at the time of my interview we could afford to go out for a meal once a year..we didn’t get compensation for our previous experience due to some Dutch ex klm flight school guys but starting salary was double my BA 7 year one and a British captain said that I should be able to take my family out to eat 5 times a week on that. I didn’t really believe him but after a year I was renting a house for around chf2,500 a month. Certainly is a beautiful country and at this old age having had my wife the victim of crime yet again in france I would appreciate living in a police state even if I had to listen to Hals krankheit although at one time I dreamt in it.
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,770
Likes: 390
I have heard at LH Group (total, not only Swiss) there is a huge pool of DLR-pre-screened pilot candidates ready for the call to flight school that was put on hold recently. Their WhatsApp group count is said to be like 500. Sounds like LH might slightly step on the brakes?
Joined: Dec 2025
Aviation Qualifications: Non-Aircrew
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: Zurich
Swiss CEO Jens Fehlinger apparently has stated in an interview with swiss media they're considering to drop the german requirement due to ongoing pilot shortages.
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,770
Likes: 390
I have heard at LH Group (total, not only Swiss) there is a huge pool of DLR-pre-screened pilot candidates ready for the call to flight school that was put on hold recently. Their WhatsApp group count is said to be like 500. Sounds like LH might slightly step on the brakes?
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 118
Likes: 7
From: italy
if you’re in the company there’s no wonder why no one wants to go there, not to mention the salary. I would rather work at McDonald’s than put up with this kind of atmosphere LMAO
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
From: At home
Training is running at absolute maximum, so I‘m not sure if the problem is the lack of applicants.
