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British Airways Hiring Pilots

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bafanguy

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 4, 2004
Posts
2,525
British Airways is hiring pilots; that's good. You've likely seen the ad too. But the excerpt from the ad below makes me wonder about their hiring environment. Some of you probably understand it. I can only guess.

They're requiring A320 time and the type rating ( Preferences are one thing. "Minimum requirements:" are another) for new hire FOs to what I'd consider a "legacy" carrier, a place one goes intending to run out a career and retire. It's not a steppingstone job like an expat or LCC position might be, right ?

So, why are they requiring time in type for new hires ?

[I understand why an airline might want people with time in type. That's not the issue.]

Are they trying to draw people back home from the expat world because they can ?

Are they hiring so few they can find that few floating around the UK with A320 time but unemployed or perhaps poach from local competitors ?

I can only assume there's not exactly a pilot "shortage" in the UK if BA is requiring time in type for new hires. That's like Delta requiring an MD80 rating and time in type (I know about SWA...they're an exception here).

From the ad:

"Minimum requirements:

A current type rating on the Airbus A320 series, with a minimum of 200 hrs experience on type - please note that preference will be given to those candidates actively operating A320 series aircraft at the point of application"


http://www.aviationjobs.me/2014/08/...aviationjobs/rss+(AviationJobsMe+Flight+Crew)
 
Last edited:
Simple....., because they can..! The target is pilots working for LCC's and other small operators within the EU, they won't find pilots working abroad that would want to come back to work for BA, there is little movement there and they are really only hiring because of attrition due to retirement. Brits are not constantly thinking about "going back" as American pilots are (well, some anyways...., there are a lot of us working abroad that because of age or satisfaction with the current gig are not interested in the current upswing) taxation is a big issue for them as well, somebody who is 50 for example, makes no sense to go to BA, neither professionally nor economically.
 
British Airways has historically had their own cadet program, but from time to time will hire 'Direct Entry" First Officers. I'm guessing this advertisement is for the "Direct Entry" First Officers position.

I think a lot of young British kids would be interested in this as a career position, much like many on the States are interested in the legacies. They will attract a lot of guys from places like Emirates who have seen that the expat pilot life overseas is not what they want to do for the next 30 years ( Emirates has hired a lot of kids out of the UK still only in their late 20s in the past few years ).


TP
 
British Airways has historically had their own cadet program, but from time to time will hire 'Direct Entry" First Officers. I'm guessing this advertisement is for the "Direct Entry" First Officers position.

I think a lot of young British kids would be interested in this as a career position, much like many on the States are interested in the legacies. They will attract a lot of guys from places like Emirates who have seen that the expat pilot life overseas is not what they want to do for the next 30 years ( Emirates has hired a lot of kids out of the UK still only in their late 20s in the past few years ).


TP

TP,

So, is the BA cadet program still running but temporarily unable to supply enough people to cover attrition ? And wouldn't attrition be known beforehand, especially mandatory retirements ?

It's hard to imagine a national carrier like BA wouldn't be able to fill every cadet slot they had available.
 
TP,

So, is the BA cadet program still running but temporarily unable to supply enough people to cover attrition ? And wouldn't attrition be known beforehand, especially mandatory retirements ?

It's hard to imagine a national carrier like BA wouldn't be able to fill every cadet slot they had available.


Not sure, but my educated speculation is that even if it is still running it's expensive while DEC F.O.s are much cheaper to employ. They probably want a balance.

One thing to keep in mind is that BA went from age 55 mandatory retirement to age 65. That ten year stagnation period has not yet ended. I think it still has a few more years to go, unlike the 5 year stagnation period in the U.S.. Once it does then BA will start losing more and more guys every year.


TP
 
Delta could require an A320 type rating and time on type and there still wouldn't be any shortage of applicants applying from Allegiant/Spirit/Frontier/JetBlue/Virgin.
 

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