Just to clarify - I have no involvement whatsoever with recruitment and have no data on female recruitment other than what our management tells us. What I do know is that we are aiming to get to 12% female pilots - something that is incredibly difficult to achieve. I believe the average around the world is about 5%, but others will be able to furnish us with more accurate figures. Also, and this is purely my personal experience, we do have a lot of female recruits - way more than was the case, say, 15 years ago. We also have our first female training manager, who is a massive and very visible activist for advancing the cause of female pilots in the industry. She is absolutely top quality, by the way, and an absolute delight to deal with.

The trouble with any form of 'targeted recruitment', as has been seen from recent controversies within the RAF, is that this is an incredibly divisive issue - and there are no easy answers. All I can tell you is that there are jobs for everyone at easyJet regardless of sex, religion, race etc, etc or anything else. In my experience, everyone is treated fairly. If you are a buffoon then being black, gay, trans, white, Muslim etc, etc, will not protect you - that is exactly how it should be. Equally, you will never be held back for any of those reasons - exactly as it should be.

I realise that those folks who obsess over these type of things will simply never let go of their particular beef - such is the nature of the beast. I personally do not give a whole lot of thought to the matter, but quietly rejoice that we are one of the fairest companies in the world to work for. No more can I ask for. My advice to those of you who have some particular grievance related to recruitment is to just let it go, get on with being the best you can be and grab the opportunities you are presented with to move up in the industry. Inevitably, that will never be enough for some people, but in the end it will save you a world of pain and unnecessary misery.

To the Count;

Your latest post is fascinating because of it’s contradictions. You seem quite emotional about the topic whilst telling everyone else to stop worrying about it so much. I wonder why what is?

Also; the more important point - you say recruitment is agnostic of of sex, race, religion, creed but more importantly based on “buffoonery” or lack thereof.

So if easyJet have an issue with recruiting a diverse bunch of cadets and by your own measure of ability it’s to do with levels of “buffoonery” - how on earth is that not the most sexist/racist/xenophobic thing to say in 2023?

Boeingdriver999 - your comments remind me why on PPRuNe I rarely venture outside the private forum related to easyJet. I am slightly disappointed you appear to have taken offence and I cannot really see why. I not sure I quite understand your concern, but it may be I did not explain myself properly. My reference to buffoonery was simply related to flying-related behaviour. If you do something wrong or stupid as a pilot, being of a 'diverse' background will not protect you - nor should it. Equally, as I mentioned, being of any background is no barrier to success here in my experience. I hope that clarifies my comments. You also said, 'if easyJet have an issue with recruiting a diverse number of cadets' - they don't. We recruit from every background, and I am at a loss to understand how you find that sexist/racist/xenophobic. However, as I alluded to, people who are offended in this realm are always offended and invariably find offence where there is none to be had. Given you appear to have worked for us over many years, I really hope you are not one of those people. If you have found Air Utopia, I am genuinely glad for you - to be working somewhere you actually like is a great privilege. If you did not like working here, for whatever reason, and have found a better gig elsewhere, that is fantastic.

Absolutely zero offence taken or meant to be given whatsoever. This is not an important topic for me; I just happen to be in days off.

I haven’t found Air Utopia but again; I find such comments curious - to leave easyJet one must find Utopia?

My mates who remain have mostly passed the threshold of moving and now have the golden handcuffs so to speak. Are they happy? Absolutely. As happy as a pilot can be who’s never experienced a world outside of easyJet.

this comment is very accurate from my thoughts , most of my flying friends that are in Easy have been in the company for the majority of the career so have never experienced anything else really. Almost institutionalized. Nothing wrong with it I guess

Also many new pilots join straight from Flight school (L3 CTC or whatever it’s called) so fall in love do 3 years and then join BA which they think is the Holy Grail.

All great , but it does start to grind on me when they constantly go on about how wonderful it is. Do you really love your 4 sector days though ?

I think the reason many bang on about EZY is because when the cockpit door is closed (ie, not dealing with summer disruption), it's usually a great place to be. Everyone is generally there for a good day out. You bid for earlies/lates which you generally get. And if you get a base close to where you want to be, it's good for family life (home every night). I probably get one four sector day every two months, but we do have some quite long two sector days, especially in the summer.

Winter is very quiet. Part time options are great, not many other jobs out there that offer £75k+ for 9 days a month (with all the same roster protections).

That said, after 15 years here I am currently interviewing elsewhere. Whatever I decide to do it's quite a difficult choice as EZY has it's flaws, but overall a nice place to be.

A lot of sensible comments on this thread and some silly ones.

As I’ve said many times, we’re all looking for different things and what suits one pilot may not suit another.

Where it gets a bit silly is where people come on this website claiming their company and contract is the best one to be had and seem to have trouble understanding why some people don’t agree !

The best place to work is the place that suits you.

Hits the nail on the head.

Some wise words here. To clarify, I am not saying easyJet is perfect, but it is definitely near the top end of what is out there, with all its limitations. I have known EpsilonVaz for many years and he is a widely-respected captain here. I also understand that what is good at one point of life is not necessarily good at another stage of one's career. Also, there are times when a particular offer seems quite attractive, when all the stars appear line up at a particular moment in time. There is also a power in just starting afresh and going somewhere new - I fully get that. There is no perfect answer as to where to work, but we all know when we are in the wrong place! Those of you who think things are bad should take a look at the parallel thread on Yemenia - it would make a glass eye water! Within any airline, each person's individual experience of that particular company can also be very different. Furthermore, life events outside of work can have a huge effect on our perception of work life at the time. I am 18 months from retirement and have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I cannot speak for the current key players out there at the moment - Ryanair, Jet2, Virgin, BA, Emirates, Qatar etc. Each has their own 'flavour', but I would, however, urge caution here. I am aware this is the 'Terms and Endearment' section on PPRuNe and many of the people reading this are at the beginning of their careers and not the end.

My advice, such as it is, would be as follows. First do not pay much attention to people in their first couple of years at a new company, particularly if they are relatively new to aviation. They basically do not know anything and are still flush with a sense of wonderment and delight at their achievements! To be a professional airline pilot is indeed a great achievement, but it is a hard road over a lifetime. If I was to use one word to describe working full-time for any LCC it would be 'relentless'. That one word says it all - a couple of summers at Gatwick will soon flush out any sense of thrill at your lot! There will be an endless litany of roster changes, delays, working into days off, yob passengers, frustrating management emails, more delays etc, etc. It starts as a genuine adventure, but that gradually (and it is a gradual thing) wears off and takes its toll. Therefore, you need to realise that part-time is really the only way not to have your health ruined by your mid-fifties (or possibly earlier). We are simply not designed to work for long, long hours at all times of the day and night. It is fundamentally unhealthy and requires enormous self-discipline to eat well, sleep well and keep at an appropriate level of fitness. Training and being in the sim has helped me stay sane, but I am still genuinely so glad to have done this job. I do, however, recognise the difficulties of a life in a hard-working airline. From what I can tell, BA shorthaul or any of the other short haul companies is really not a whole lot better. Sure, it is a great job, but do not do it for the money. Get part-time as soon as you can and work to live rather than live to work.

Anyway, that is my view and others are more than welcome to chip-in. We are a great airline here at easyJet. However full-time work is relentless - that is the nature of what we do and will never change. I love flying the A320 series - magnificent machines! The Boeing guys (for reasons I have never fully understood ;)) love their steeds as well - after a while, however, an aircraft is an aircraft, the mystique evaporates and you just get to know it very well. I am fortunate to work with great people and that is what makes my day fun. However, too much of a good thing is just that - too much. Get part-time and realise there is whole world out there beyond the airline you work for. Here endeth the lesson!

Although I disagree with some of your opinions on fairness and diversity of EASY recruiting, this is a very well written post and I would recommend it to any pilots getting into the industry.

Chauderon - do not worry about disagreeing with my views on easyJet and diversity. Everyone disagrees with everyone else on this subject and that is just the nature of the beast!

Very few people have an entirely rounded view of aviation. It is almost impossible to have a career that encompasses, say, British Airways, easyJet, Cathay, Emirates and Yemenia! I am sure that someone, somewhere will prove me wrong, but we are all fundamentally limited in our complete experience of the industry. We can therefore say, 'You do not know any better, and therefore through ignorance of the wider world you like easyJet (insert Ryanair, Qatar, Emirates, Jet2, Virgin etc, etc as required)'. Also, better the devil you know in may cases. The slight problem with the view that says the best place to work is the place that suits you is that is not really dealing with the issue of folks looking for potential change. For example, you may be like EpsilonVaz above and fundamentally recognise the benefits of working for easyJet, but still have your head over the parapet and looking for something better, more interesting, different aircraft type, transfer to long haul etc. That is entirely normal and actually quite healthy. At different stages over the last 20 years I too have filled-in forms and started the process of leaving, but in the end my more rational self has led me to staying here. It is now too late and I am very comfortable seeing out the last 18 months of my working life here. As I reflect back on my own journey, which involves 5 different airlines and the RAF before that, easyJet has been the right place at the right time for me, and is overall one of the better choices of airline to work at. That is completely irrelevant to everyone else as they will all have different experiences. Ask anyone who has been unemployed, or worked for some hideous contractor, and they will tell you how relieved they were when they eventually got a job at a 'mainstream' airline. Equally, if you listen to some guy who got a job at BA aged 20 and ended up as No 12 on the seniority list flying 747's, you often get a sense of entitlement as they simply never knew what is was to struggle - basically a fantastic career was handed to them on a plate.

I can only tell you that, although I have not worked for the myriad airlines out there, I have taken a massive interest in the unbelievably varied range of pilots passing through the training system here at easyJet. We have had a number of presidential pilots - varying from Sarkozy's personal A340 pilot through to the B727 First Officer for the President of Burkino Faso in Ougadougou! We have had contractors for Afriqiyah Airways in Libya, pilots from Small Planet right through to the personal pilots on Gulfstreams working for Russian Oligarchs to take them to their various gambling appointments round the globe. At one stage we had numerous ex-BA captains forced to retire aged 55 and who had several previous wives to cater for and therefore needed to work to 65. Some of those were also very happily married, but just liked flying and did not want it to end early. Round that time we also picked up a number of ex-Cathay 49ers who woke up one morning to find out they had been fired and had to leave Hong Kong sharpish! We have had ex-military pilots who have flown everything from Tornados through to US F15's. We have had at least one ex-Concorde pilot and at one stage we had a wonderful ex-Harrier pilot who was taken prisoner during the Falklands War after being shot down during a ground attack sortie. The reason I say all this is that easyJet has historically had an incredibly eclectic mix of pilots - I have loved hearing their tales of different lives. Sure, I have not walked in their shoes, but we all at least got to hear of their experiences. Where it has left me at the end of my career is to feel a genuine sense of privilege that I have worked at easyJet, with its safety culture and genuinely supportive environment, if you do your bit. As I have stated many times before, it is not perfect and there is a whole other world out there - as a number of excellent contributors have pointed out. There is not a perfect airline out there - at least not one that was ever available to me! As I look round the world, if you can get into Delta, United or American at a young-ish age, that is about as near to Air Utopia as you can get. Even these big players, however, are potentially fraught with difficulty as they have all had furloughs, inconvenient base allocations based on seniority etc. If I am honest, although I cannot fault our selection system, it is somewhat bland. The range of pilots we used to have are being replaced by vast numbers of keen young folks coming through from CAE and L3. We are interviewing some very interesting DEPs from the likes of Air Astana, TAP etc (very good they are too), but they are not coming in big numbers. The bottom line is that, if you can get in here, there are a whole lot worse places to be and not that many that are massively better. It is always hard to argue with the undoubted merits of national carriers like BA, Air France or Lufthansa, but the reality is that these type of places are rare beasts to get anywhere near for most of us. Also, there are long seniority lists that require great patience before hitting the jackpot in later life. There are no perfect answers, but there are some absolute shockers - easyJet is not one of those. Also, lurking out there, if you can find them, are also some very interesting and enjoyable options that can scratch the itch most us get at some stage in our career. In my humble experience, such as it is, there are very few revolutionary moves up the ladder in aviation - mainly more evolutionary, with small changes that are generally for the best - but even that is not guaranteed! I hope it works out well for you all, whatever path you follow.

Spot on!

Well done Count, some great and invaluable posts here. Combined with the Yemenia thread it reminds me that among the professional pilot group there are some very articulate smart chaps and chapesses that do care about our industry and the well being of neophyte pilots. I had a 5 year spell with the orange mob starting when they had only eight aircraft of the Boeing variety. Mike Keane was the chief pilot in those days who I don’t mind naming as I hold him in high regard. An old fashioned pilot type who cared about the important stuff and continually fighting a rear guard action against the architects of the brave new Low Cost world. The attitude of the management above him was one of general suspicion towards the pilots underpinned by a reluctance to pay the money to attract the experience that they needed. I was mightily impressed then and now with the training department which I joined almost straight away that maintained a highly professional operation despite all the white noise from easyland. It would appear that elements of the orange culture remain but I understand why you stayed and without doubt easyJet has expanded to the current colossus it has become. I left to join a holiday airline of the light blue variety which was okish but as the world, airline and other was changing, not a bad move but not as you amusingly say Air Utopia either. Anyhow, great posts and info, well done.

How much Easyjet FOs fly on average/year in european bases?
 

Hi Everyone,

I would be interested in the amount of hours what Easyjet FOs fly in Europe.

thanks.

depends what base but summer months 70-90 hours per month, winter 20-50

Since I joined the company, in two different countries in EU, except during covid, I have always flown between 600 and 650 hours per year, both seats, and that seems in line with all the other pilots I speak to.
RHS are flying a bit more the last couple of years due to an above average turnover towards the majors and not enough cadets coming in.

Any realistic path to join EZY right now as a 250H TT cadet?

if you’re from the usual sausage factory supplier of cadet pilot yes. If not then try and get a job flying something at least 10T for a few years then you’ll be able to apply DEP if/when that recruitment opens up. We’re going to be seriously short of pilots this summer as many have left or are in the process of leaving. Mainly FO’s going to EK and BA.

Hello guys do you by any chances how long we stay in the holding pool until they call us for induction ? It's been 3 weeks for me. Thanks!

Have done both easyjet and BA and I can tell you Short Haul at BA LHR (despite not being the glamour gig) is night and day easier and less fatiguing than easyJet (well easyjet LGW as that was my point of reference).

But I enjoyed easyJet. The training was first class (better than BA) and a great bunch of characters in the LHS. Personally I couldn’t have carried on doing multiple sector days on short haul for the rest of career but it’s whatever works for you. No need for the Willy waving. If you’re someone who is comfortable with what easyJet has to offer then it’s a great place to work.