BA CityFlyer recruitment and assessment
 

Hi!

I was just wondering if anyone could shed some light on the BA CityFlyer Assessment and Interview day.
Most posts on this seem to be very dated so any advice anyone could give me would be great.

Many thanks in advance :)

BA CityFlyer recruitment and assessment
 

Have you been invited?

Selection process has not changed since the old data posted on pprune before.

Has anyone heard anything from them yet????

no, nothing, niente, nada

PFO email today
 

100s of approaches into LON City, just under 6000h with 4 years of that on Multi Crew TP, also jet rated.

@angelorange

Im really surprised that you got one, considering your experience!! :ugh: First they reject newbies and now experienced guys. Wondering what they are looking for and how the selection is being conducted. Sofar, no PFO for me, but that can change very quick.

My guess is they're after flybe rated guys.....

@Woody12

CTC!!! As usual a taster "recruitment" drive to see who bites. Then off to the CTC sausage factory for cadets and everyone’s nest is nicely feathered.

Did any of you experienced TP/Jet guys expect anything else?

And soon we'll have another FTO/ATO opening up shop in the UK selling MPL to wannabes for a wopping 100k sterling. Nice....

If they do cherry pick from CTC and OAA then it really goes to show that as a wannabe the only places to go are these FTO's.

I firmly believe that we should have a system as in the US where you have to gain your 1500 hrs before you can work for an airline. The problem is the CAA wouldn't do this as it would rock the boat.

I have heard nothing from BAFC and don't expect to. I have over 2000hrs TT, live 20 mins away from the airport. 1750 hrs instrument time and 1700hrs working in the corporate aviation industry on a Citation.

So hard to move up the ladder when all you have is some kid from CTC/OAA bypassing the system. Seems experience counts for nothing these days!!! :ugh:

Daygo,

You have my sympathies. But if the rules were changed then you wouldn't have had the chance to fly a Cj with 300 hours (which is what your post implies). At least the corporate division and the companies I've been contacting haven't sold their souls to CTC/OAA. Not yet anyway.

Good luck.

Ps. I'll take your Cj job. Lowish TT and couple hundred turbine.:p

Maxed Out.

Agree with your comments. I do however think that there needs to be more emphasis on the guys with hours to be taken on by airlines.

Do we know if anyone has been contacted regarding interviews?

In any 'seniority based' airline that will all count against you.The kiddo who joined straight from flying school a year before you will be ahead of you for promotion. That will eventually make you grumpy and they won't want grumpy pilots in their airline, so they'll stick to employing the kiddos straight from the flying schools. These kiddos will be so heavily in debt that they can't afford to leave and repay the type-rating bond; and by the time their bond is finished they will be looking at how close they are to a command and that leaving will be throwing away their precious position on that seniority list. The airline will quite obviously prefer them rather than you. Those kids aren't 'bypassing the system', for seniority based airlines they are the system.

Not. That 'kid' straight out of Flying School could be aged 20 or 40 and the principle would still be the same. (The 40-year-olds could actually be more attractive to the airline as they will eventually feel, once they have worked off their bonds and 'gained' in seniority, that they have more to lose if they leave.)

As a BA Franchise, and as a group company in IAG, if true, that is wholly unacceptable.

Not true. I have known several pilots aged 35+ with only piston-engined time and sometimes with many thousands of hours to get airline jobs. (One was 1,500 hrs, aged 54! AND he got a command before he retired.) The 'instant fix' flying-school-straight-into-a-jet-job isn't always the best answer. Plenty of pilots have worked their way up as flying instructors and with turbo-prop airlines. Many have got themselves jobs in airline offices, as cabin crew and as handling agent dispatchers in order to get known and noticed. And well done to all of them for their efforts. Others have done it, just give it a try and don't just sit at home complaining about 'the system'.

Agreed, there always have been some airlines that have some rather daft concepts about selecting pilots. One is that flying school graduates are the only way to go (most likely that is the way that the chief pilot got his licence?), another is to look down on certain types of experience (I can understand the 'factorised hours' concept, because long-haul hours don't build up experience at the same rate as regional turbo-prop, etc., but I have heard of one rather snooty airline looking down at someone's DC6 experience!) and I have seen some rather daft questions on application forms that can be totally irrelevant (one rather Big Airline at one stage wanted to know how many hours you took to go solo... I've known a pilot to go solo at about 80 hours, but that was on his 17th birthday and that day he soloed on four different types including a tail-dragger and a twin, so 'hours to first solo' is a rubbish question!).

When the supply is bigger than the demand then that first job will always be difficult to get, but I don't think that airline work is much different from other industries as far as that goes. When business picks up it will change...

As for beingI don't think that makes them any different from any other employer, other than that they have the 'tyranny of the seniority list'from advancing at a rate relevant to their experience.

Assessment days.
 

Hello folks,

Just wondering if anyone has heard anything recently, I've been reliably informed there are assessment days planned?

Also any info on the group ex, interview and tests would be appreciated feeling lucky!

If you prefer to pm please feel free... :ok:

Cheers

I've not heard anything since I received my BP email about 5 yrs ago!

I got a pfo this morning. 1000 on an rj and 2400 tt.
Must be all the Ryanairs jumping ship that got the interviews...

They are funny bunnies, I was in a hold pool at the end of the recruitment for the RJ and when they next recruited for the emb I found out I was kicked out BA mainline style.
So reapplied for interview and got a PFO.
Seems silly as I had jumped the hoops and passed the sim.

Oh well, I got a better job so I guess all is well.

Just a few points here.
BACF are not a franchise they are a wholly owned subsidiary of BA.
Having said that if want into BA stay away. You'll not get in to BA via BACF!!
Last person to do that was before we became BA Connect no one that has applied since has been selected. Strange when we fly the Brand to the same SOP's!

Seniority at this company counts for nothing!!!!
Commands are given on a face fits system. Every few years they change the way to become an SFO and it always has a provision for them refusing the third stripe.
I know many good solid FO's who for some reason have fell foul of this and have not been offered command, and a few who should never have been offered the command and who are now sitting in the left seat.

Commands here are also taken away from captains on a too regular basis.

Why are a very large number of people, even captains leaving for Jet2?
Last count 4 on notice and a further 10+ from both seats waiting for course dates, with a few more still to sim check. Last count if the rest get offered a job it'll be around 20!! Or so the rumours go............:oh:

So for those that don't make the selection (which HR have a huge say over) it's not always a bad thing. However the people in the planes are a great bunch of people to work with.

To those who want to come here best of luck. The grass is not always greener. It's a fun job and a great bunch of people to fly with.
I like the job but after many years here I too might be on the way out.

One final note: in the past year those hired have come from various back grounds. Flybe, BMI baby, BMI regional, Loganair and Ryanair. At the moment we are have many who are ready for command with nowhere to move up. So maybe now they want people with low hours to bottom fill the FO's. First 4 button pushers (MPL) FO's start next month with a further 4 DE FO's.

A fish rots from the head down, and that is the problem at BACF.

It could be a great company- but it's not.

Those of you in receipt of your PFO's....Keep looking. You'll find somewhere better. :ok:

Thanks for the info. From the sounds of it, a great bunch of people to work with.

I got an invitation for assessment at BACF next month.
On the info letter I received that I can expect the following that day:
• Competency based interview;
• Group exercise; and
• Numerical and verbal reasoning testing (a calculator will be provided).

Anyone who has been there and can tell a bit more about these three steps, what can I expect and can I prepare for it somehow?

Do you also know how many FOs they are looking for to hire?

Well done to you! What's your experience?

Around 2000 TT which 1700 on heavy jet.

Aerocomp

Did you receive your invitation in the post or by email? Seems a trivial question but I recently moved and have not updated my current address details.

I got a phonecall,have not heard anything before that since I sent in my application.

So back to my first question :-)
Anyone who can help me and know what to expect on the interview, what kinds of tests,type of questions on the face to face talk and the group exercise?

Why are people so excited about this company? Pay have never been great and growth has been incremental with the additions of the Embraers compared to other carriers. Yes - I have heard good things about the pilot group, but Easy, Ryan, Jet2 and some of the other charter carriers appear to be growing faster with more opportunity. Sure, these other carriers are not perfect by any stretch and the contracts they offer can vary, but they are growing faster and have more bases and more variety of flying - right? Plus, if BA is your end goal, sounds like CityFlyer would not be the choice.

I guess if you must be in London, CityFlyer is an option. Again, the CityFlyer pilot group is supposed to be top notch. Are there many Easy, Ryan, Monarch, Thomson, Jet2 pilots leaving those airlines for CityFlyer?

I'm confused.

If this is the case, why did their requirements state:

"500 hours flight time or 100 flight sectors on an MPA"
and "Experience of flying with a commercial airline with an established SOP"
and "Hold a total flight time of 1000 hours with multi crew, multi engine experience."

Maybe that was just for the guys who don't have the MPL.

Wise words superpilot:ok:

Anyone with an ounce of sense wouldn't leave Thomson for BACF

Absolutely spot on Super Pilot.

The work/life balance should remain the over arching criteria.

:D

Anyone heard anything since Monday/Tuesday's Selection Days? :confused:

Announced yesterday 3 additional E190's. 2 in Q1 and the third in September.
So more pilots needed.

Anybody here that passed the interview last week and got invited to the sim?

New vacancies for Ejet pilots on their website.
Closing date: December 2nd

The only difference is that now an Embraer Type Rating is mandatory

(Are they looking for the FlyBe guys?)

zedoscarro

Yes we are.