Sunday 13th December 2020
Dubious methods of aviation
Pilots who pay for their jobs themselves
From Kevin Schulte
Even as a child, many dream of piloting 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, earn above-average earnings and control planes weighing several hundred tons through the air. But more and more often the reality looks different, the pilot job is losing its shine.
The industry is particularly hard hit by the Corona crisis. Many pilots are threatened with unemployment, precarious employment relationships are on the rise, some young flight captains no longer receive any money for their work, but even have to pay to be able to pilot a Boeing or an 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 is then used as a pilot or co-pilot in return ", explains Janis Schmitt, pilot and board member of the cockpit pilots' union, in the ntv podcast" Learned again ".
Anyone who can show too few flying hours has little chance of a job with a well-known airline. The providers of the dubious models therefore argue that young pilots can gain valuable flight experience in this way and invest in their own future. "It's like paying as a young doctor in the hospital to be able to treat people and gain experience before you can find a paid job in a year or two," criticized the cockpit spokesman, who also called the model feels unjust. Either prospective pilots with a lot of money or those who cannot find any other way out would consider "pay-to-fly". "This is how you take advantage of their situation."
Up to 50,000 euros for a cockpit
This way, young pilots can quickly fall into a debt trap. They pay 30,000 to 50,000 euros for a cockpit. There is also the pilot license: the training costs 50,000 to 100,000 euros. "That has to be financed out of your own pocket, unless you get some kind of scholarship or pre-financing from the airline," explains Schmitt. Since the career prospects for young pilots would have worsened due to the Corona crisis, there is a risk, according to Cockpit, that insecure employment relationships in the industry will increase. "The airlines want and need to save money and then hire cheaper staff. And when there are even companies that offer 'Pay-to-Fly', that's of course wonderful."
In 2015, the Belgian University of Ghent published a study on employment in the aviation industry. Around 6,600 European pilots were surveyed at the time. The result is that more than one in six of them was employed in what is known as an atypical employment relationship. Most of them had temporary contracts, so they weren't directly employed by an airline, but by a temporary employment agency without protection against dismissal. In extreme cases, they were rented out to smaller airlines or low-cost airlines with "Pay to Fly" offers. In such a case the pilots earn money, but have to give it to their "landlords".
As a result, the situation in the industry improved somewhat, says Schmitt. "In the meantime it was less of an issue for us in the professional association. We received fewer letters from people affected." But since the beginning of the Corona crisis, the situation has changed and corresponding offers have come back "because many airlines had to lay off their staff".
More and more unemployed pilots
Just over 22,400 pilots and other flight personnel such as flight technicians were licensed by the Federal Aviation Office last year. Now there are far too many in view of travel and tourism restrictions. The new capital city airport in Berlin, for example, currently only counts 6,000 passengers a day. "We currently have more than 1000 unemployed professional pilots in Germany alone and they will not be in a better position due to the pandemic," warns unionist Schmitt and refers, among other things, to the job cuts at Tuifly and the Lufthansa Group.
The situation for unemployed pilots is particularly problematic because they are very specially trained. If they cannot find a new job in the cockpit, they often find it difficult to reorient themselves on the job market. Only a few could gain a foothold in other industries immediately, says Schmitt and gives a tip: Young people who want to become a pilot shouldn't give up their dream, but should complete a course of study or training before going to the pilot school. "If you then become unemployed, you have a second mainstay and in times of crisis you can make ends meet much better than the unemployed pilots currently do."
The pilot job has lost its shine. The airlines are under pressure, environmental debates and now the corona crisis is affecting the entire industry. And when it will be flown again as before is open.
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"Learned Again" is a podcast for the curious: Why can the little ant shake China? What will the Dax reform bring? Why is the Rhine "rebuilt"? Listen to it and get a little smarter 3 times a week.
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