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For many, it is still a dream job: becoming a pilot, seeing the world, ideally at Lufthansa, where the pay remains princely and the route network is attractive. For 700 applicants who are currently doing their training at Lufthansa’s flight school, the last few months were a single hangover: courses were interrupted in the spring due to the corona pandemic. On Tuesday, the dream finally turned into a nightmare for most of them.
The flight school in Bremen recommended on Tuesday 700 via videoconference to interrupt their training because there would be no need for new pilots at Lufthansa and its subsidiaries in the next few years. Those who insist can finish their training, but candidates run a great financial risk: if you do not find a job in the group in five years, you have to pay the full cost in one go.
Various variants
The Bremen pilot school is divided into two sections, the courses for the Multiple Crew Pilot License (MPL) lead in good times to a cabin of the main brand Lufthansa, the cheapest for the Air Transport Pilot License (ATPL) provide young talents in the other companies of the group, especially Eurowings. About 350 students are currently in MPL courses, roughly the same number in ATPL training. The main difference between the two is that MPL students complete some practical jet training in Bremen, while fellow ATPL students receive fan gun training in Rostock. These are much cheaper, especially since the old and expensive collective agreements still apply to MPL flight instructors.
A decision originally scheduled for September not to offer MPL courses in Bremen in the future has been delayed. There are still internal consultations, and the city of Bremen is struggling to stay the course, as is the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilots union. However, flight instructors, many of whom are also temporarily deployed on regular Lufthansa scheduled flights, would have to give up some of the good conditions they have come to enjoy in their current collective agreement to change Lufthansa’s mind. . The Bundeswehr has signed a new contract for pilot training; the next decision also contributes to the uncertainty.
Free exit
The flight school has now offered the 700 to get out of training contracts for free. Nor do they have to return the 20,000 euros they received in good times as a bonus for signing the papers. However, many students are likely to insist on finishing their training anyway, as some only have a few hours of flight time to go. To continue meeting the obligations towards these students, the flight school will reopen in January.
Then the training will stop until further notice. It will be resumed if Lufthansa needs junior staff. No one can predict when. However, the airline has to plan well in advance because it usually takes two years for pilots to get their license. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) currently assumes that traffic will return to 2019 levels in 2024. Lufthansa wants to permanently operate 150 fewer aircraft and therefore has too many pilots on board. Therefore, it will be a long time before many of them have retired and newcomers are needed again.
