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Sunday, December 13, 2020
Doubtful methods of aviation
Pilots who pay themselves for their jobs
By Kevin Schulte
Even as children, many dream of flying an airplane. But the fight for a place in the cockpit is getting tougher. Hundreds of pilots are unemployed, some airlines work with dubious employment models; the Corona crisis does the rest.
Pilots have a dream job: they see a lot of the world, make above-average profits, and control planes that weigh several hundred tons in the air. But more and more often the reality looks different, the pilot work is losing its luster.
The industry is particularly affected by the Corona crisis. Many pilots are threatened with unemployment, precarious employment relationships are on the rise, some young flight captains no longer receive money for their work, but even have to pay to fly a Boeing or Airbus. The principle is called “Pay-to-Fly”: “A pilot who does not have a job and wants to improve his position pays a certain sum with certain airlines that offer something like this and then he is used as a pilot or co-pilot in return”, explains Janis Schmitt, pilot and board member of the cockpit pilots union, on the ntv podcast “Wieder Was Learned.”
If you have very few flight hours, you will hardly have the opportunity to work with a well-known airline. Therefore, the suppliers of the dubious models argue that young pilots can gain valuable flying experience in this way and invest in their own future. “It is like paying as a young doctor in the hospital to be able to treat people and gain experience before being able to find a paid job in a year or two,” criticizes the booth spokesman, who also calls the model feels unfair. Any of the potential pilots with a lot of money or those who cannot find another way out would respond to “Pay-to-Fly”. “This is how you take advantage of their situation.”
Up to 50,000 euros per cabin
In this way, young drivers can quickly fall into a debt trap. They pay 30,000 to 50,000 euros for a cabin. There is also the pilot’s license: the training costs between 50,000 and 100,000 euros. “That has to be financed out of your pocket, unless you get some kind of scholarship or pre-financing from the airline,” explains Schmitt. Given that career prospects for young pilots would have worsened due to the Corona crisis, there is a risk, according to Cockpit, that unsafe employment relationships in the industry will increase. “Airlines want and have to save money and then hire cheaper staff. And when there are companies that offer ‘Pay-to-Fly’, that’s wonderful.”
In 2015, the Belgian University of Ghent published a study on industrial relations in the aviation industry. At that time, about 6,600 European pilots were surveyed. The result is that more than one in six of them were employed in what is known as an atypical employment relationship. Most of them had temporary contracts, so they were not directly employed by an airline, but by a temporary agency without protection against dismissal. In extreme cases, they were leased to smaller or low-cost airlines with “Pay to Fly” offers. In such a case, the pilots earn money, but they have to give it to their “owners”.
As a result, the situation in the industry improved somewhat, says Schmitt. “In the meantime, it was less of a problem for us at the professional association. We received fewer letters from those affected.” But since the beginning of the Corona crisis, the situation has changed and the corresponding offers have returned “because many airlines had to lay off their staff.”
More and more pilots unemployed
Just over 22,400 pilots and other flight personnel, such as flight technicians, were licensed by the Federal Office of Aviation last year. Now there are too many in view of travel and tourism restrictions. The capital’s new airport in Berlin, for example, currently only handles 6,000 passengers a day. “We currently have more than 1000 unemployed commercial pilots in Germany alone and they will not be in a better position due to the pandemic,” warns trade unionist Schmitt, referring to, among other things, job cuts at Tuifly and the Lufthansa Group.
The situation of unemployed pilots is particularly problematic because they are very specially trained. If they can’t find a new job in the cockpit, they often find it difficult to reorient themselves in the job market. Only a select few could gain a foothold in other industries right away, says Schmitt, and gives advice: Young people who want to become a “pilot” shouldn’t give up on their dream, but should complete a degree or apprenticeship before pilot school. “If you then lose your job, you have a second pillar and in times of crisis you can make ends meet much better than the currently unemployed pilots.”
The pilot work has lost its luster. Airlines are under pressure, debates about environmental protection and now the crisis in the crown is affecting the entire industry. And when it will be flown again as before it is open.
You can find all episodes of “Wieder Was Learned” in the ntv app, on Audio Now, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. You can use the RSS feed for all other podcast applications. Copy and paste the feed URL and simply add “Again Learned” to your podcast subscriptions.
“Learned Again” is a podcast for the curious: Why the Little Ant Can Shake China? What will Dax reform bring? Why is the Rhine “rebuilt”? Listen to it and be a little smarter 3 times a week.
