The first-ever British Airways Future
Pilot Programme cadets have started their 18-month pilot training
course this month.
Only the top three per cent of
applicants qualified for the airline's dedicated training programme,
with the successful 95 future pilots fighting off stiff competition
from more than 3,500 hopefuls. On completion of their training the
newly qualified pilots will be introduced to the British Airways
fleet of aircraft, the most diverse of any UK airline, and will begin
their flying careers.
The top-flight cadets will start their
training, at one of three British Airways approved flight training
schools in Oxford, Southampton and Jerez in Spain, between April 2012
and February 2013.
During the initial 16-month period at
the flight training schools, students complete their ground theory
training, cockpit instrument rating and flight training - flying
light aircraft in Spain, New Zealand or Arizona in the US.
The final two months of the programme
is completed on British Airways' multi-million pound simulators at
the airline's flight training centre near Heathrow, where the cadets
will learn to maintain British Airways' high standards. British
Airways' director of flight operations, Captain Stephen Riley, said:
"It's great to see our Future Pilot Programme come to life.
"With this first group of new
pilots entering the airline in 2013 and the second recruitment phase
starting later this year, the high levels of skill and service that
our customers rightly expect from British Airways' pilots are assured
for years to come.
"We look forward to welcoming them
into our fleet of 3,500 pilots."
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