Congratulations! :cool:

Cheers! Good luck to everyone else applying/in the hold pool.

Good news for those applying to BA

Quick question regarding qualifications what does this statement actually mean.

"To hold a current type rating and a minimum of 500 hours, or the required sectors, on an aircraft that satisfies CAP 804 FCL.730.A - Zero Flight Time Training course requirement. We would be particularly interested in hearing from candidates operating the A320"

Does it mean 500 hours in a current BA type or would 500 hours in a 757 , BAC 111, 146 , fokker 100 suffice

Also the actual licence required ? , they are not requiring an ATPL ?? , someone who joined Easy straight out of flight school has 1000 hours with 800 hours on the A320 would be ok ?

Yes that's fine, as long as you have a uk issued EASA licence it doesn't matter if it's a CPL, MPL or an ATPL.

Anyone out there that is not A320 type rated and been invited to the latest round of assessments? If so how do your hours stack up?

Hopeful request...
 

Hi guys and girls

Very optimistic, but given initially we're not in competition with each other but a standard, does anyone have any clues on the reasoning sections? I understand the verbal element is picking truths from statements, but does the numerical involve gleaning info from charts and tables, or very much just working with figures such as "...my garden is 200x400, how many packs of fence panels do I need if they measure 80 wide and 20 high with 8 in a pack..."

I appreciate theres loads of great stuff on here, but some is fairly old and if I get the call id love to put my best foot forward.

And if you want to moan at me for asking, ill take it on the chin!

Daveandg

In fact, the stuff on here regarding the tests is not far off the mark. Your garden fence question is fairly typical, irc. Type 'numerical reasoning practice tests' into google, and you can't go far wrong!

Good luck.

CC

As many people have posted before it takes time and effort to go through all the posts to glean information from this and other threads on British Airways recruitment. I did it and it took a few days, also invested in practice tools which I paid for. You have to put in plenty of preparation if you want to be successful, even in your written answers to the application questions. Take your time to get it right.

if you get invited to Stage 1 Aptitude Tests I recommend "assessmentday" and "skytest" websites.

Thank you Chuffer Chadley and Approaching minima. I have read this entire thread as well as the previous 'lowdown' ones, and there is some really great stuff so good investment of time and effort. As for Googling, I can honestly say that when I do the searches the list of returns are all magenta!

Back to the books, cheers guys

It seems like there is a lot of recruitment going on at BA these days. Does this mean at all that the time to upgrade for a new joiner in 2016 could be any shorter?

LGW commands were at 4-5 years in this year. Who knows about the future!

How about the long haul fleet?

A longhal command.... the $64m question.

Personally, I've been in 14 years and am conservatively at least 8 years (probably more like 10) from a L/H command. For those joining now, I'd have absolutely no idea but unless you're under 30 at joining date I would guess you won't see too much P1 L/H time...

Would it be fair to say that Gatwick commands certainly aren't the BA norm, for all sorts of reasons, and that is a situation that is unlikely to change?

I assume you mean time to command? If so who knows? Last few decades it's been 15 - 20 years'ish plus depending on the fleet you are bidding for. Difficult to predict going ahead but IMHO (that's all it is) that's what you still need to plan on at the very least and I guess hope it comes down. There's probably going to be a bit of a retirement bulge coming up but OTOH you've still got a sizeable cadre of the Prestwick cadets in the LHS, next in line are the '90's and the '00 DEPs, and their replacements (eventually) will be the DEPs and FPPs who are already "in" in significant numbers.

I'd put money at time to upgrade to a Long Haul command staying at or above 15 years for quite some time.

(edit to add: I see Flap 33's more pessimistic than I am but also probably more realistic, I'd certainly echo his/her final comment - FWIW I was told 7-8 years for a 747 command when I joined as a DEP..it actually took 16)

What is the retirement rate like at BA? Is it set to increase over the next few years like at the US majors or not so much? I guess it's probably confidential, but there's no harm in asking :ok:

I'm not sure about confidential. Having said that, I don't have specific numbers although they will probably be available somewhere. Yes, there's a bulge coming. All the pilots who stayed on over 55 when the retirement age initially changed start hitting 65 fairly shortly so there will be quite a bit of movement at the top of the pile. Couple this to increasing numbers applying for and achieving part-time and changes due to EASA FTLs and there will be a lot of recruitment going on for some time.

The bad news is for anyone joining now who wants a longhaul command. There is a second bulge, who are the "cadets" who joined during the nineties. Many of those who joined in the early nineties have had their longhaul commands for a few years now - and the youngest of them are in their early forties so have twenty years plus remaining. Those who joined in the late nineties are just coming into the frame now and are in their late thirties to early forties so again, there will be little movement for twenty to twenty five years for those people. Between them, they will occupy the top eight hundred or so of the seniority list for the longer term.

If you're joining aged under 30, you should make P1 LH. Over 30, possibly not. Depends how many of those above go part time.

Any further news on start dates? I take it there are now around 80 in the pool. I'm not overly concerned about drowning next September (although I suppose there's always that possibility depending on which way the economic wind blows) but it would be nice to be able to start having a clear picture of my next few months ahead.

IAG 2015 Q3 results will be out on 30th October so I'm hoping they'll be so good that the allocation of courses ramps up and the holding pool empties quickly!

Hints are emerging that there are not enough internal bidders for Airbus commands. What this means is unclear, but it could be some very junior commands being awarded in the next year. Other options are also being considered. make of that what you will. It is all speculation and has no basis in any verifiable fact. Interesting if true.

How much does that tell you about the state of BA shorthaul I wonder?