Draft Letter to MP

Current state of the aviation industry (or other similar title if writing email)

Dear <your local MP>

<today's date>

I am writing to you about the how airlines and large flight training organizations have monetised training, in particular flight schools such as L3Harris Airline Academy. As an airline pilot, this is something I take very seriously and it is paramount that something is done to protect both our industry and many people who are being exploited for their passion. 

What has been happening over the past decade is the monetisation of every aspect of flight training. People who are aspiring to become pilots are now being sold extortionately expensive courses to gain their fATPL (frozen airline transport license) which is required to gain a first job in Europe as an airline pilot. Integrated or fast track courses are now costing upwards of £100000, and not only that, once graduated, many of us are expected to pay additionally anywhere between £20000-£40000 upfront for our first airline job for training. This is called a type rating, which is a rigorous training programme that all airline pilots are required to take in order to be able to fly a specific aircraft type. 

In more recent years, we have seen flight schools offering a Multi-Crew Pilot Licence (MPL) - in short, this was introduced in 2006 by ICAO, and differed from the traditional ATPL training route in that the flight school would work in partnership with an airline to carry out company specific training from the beginning of a cadet’s training. The MPL and ATPL differed in that there was more focus on simulator time and competencies, which initially a good idea, however the disadvantage is that it is a huge time and financial risk for the cadet with little to no responsibility from the airline. If an airline decides to no longer hire, then the cadet who is undergoing MPL training would now be left with a six-figure debt, and no transferable qualifications. This happened in the case of Flybe. 

What L3 Harris did was to give their MPL cadets an ultimatum, pay £70000 to change to an ATPL, or leave and get no money back. These poor people were then left with a choice to either leave with a debt of over £100000, or pay even more to go into an industry that is shrinking with a huge surplus of pilots. 

The big picture that I’d like to highlight is what all these large flight training organisations like L3 and CAE have done to the airline industry. Pay and conditions are now eroding with no bottom - this monetisation has now created an industry that flight schools and airlines are unethically capitalising on. Some airlines charge for interviews and large flight training organisations even charge their own graduates for interviewed and assessments. As well as the cost of a type rating, some airlines expect cadets and even full-time pilots to pay for their own accommodation during their training, even though they are already heavily burdened by training debts. 

Qualified commercial airline pilots who are out of work are still required to keep their ratings current, which is extremely costly as these people will need to hire an aircraft, instructor and pay the fees to undergo recurrent training and checks. 

Over the past decade, there has also been a rise in the number of agencies and airlines such as Eaglejet, that offer what are called pay-to-fly schemes. This is where a qualified commercial airline pilot can pay a fee to fly a commercial airliner with an airline for a specified number of hours. 

This creates an elitist employment environment with a complete inequality of skills as only candidates with money will be able to afford these kinds of schemes, and due to the huge oversupply, terms and conditions are now eroding to the point where I would say that it is dangerous for flight crews to go flying when some are barely able to put food on the table. All of these issues are due to the massive and continuing oversupply of newly qualified pilots due to the greed of large flight training organisations and the desire of low-cost airlines to continuously battle for the lowest fares. 

The solution is not easy. We need reform on how airlines recruit and the general public need to wake up to the real human impact that some of these practices have on thousands of pilots around the world. A strong message must be given to airlines to share the financial burden of flight training as people are literally risking their livelihoods to fund this career. This is not just a U.K. problem, but a European one.  

I hope that you will consider the information that I have given and put this forward in the House of Commons with some of these proposals to regulate how airlines and flight training organisations to train pilots: 

• Airlines sharing at least half of the costs of flight training. 
• Flight training organisations to be capped on new cadets with nationwide pilot numbers evaluated so that we do not see a continuing oversupply of pilots during times of economic uncertainty, especially given that industry growth already slowed last year due to the grounding of the 737MAX, along with several European airlines going bust. 
• If MPL schemes are to run in the future, airlines must reimburse the costs to the cadet if for any reason they are no longer required. 
• No charges for job assessments or interviews. 

Whilst I concede that the industry will continue to shrink and lose revenue, there will no doubt be a recovery, but I fear that the oversupply of unemployed pilots will continue leading to poorer work conditions as airlines will be able to offer ‘take it or leave it’ deals, and large flight training organisations will continue to get away with charging outrageous sums of money and capitalising on the passion of aspiring pilots. 

I look forward to hearing your response on this matter. 

Yours sincerely, 

<your name>

<address and post code>