Captain Hugues Carpentier

Head of Training, Egnatia Aviation

Airlines Involvement in Ab-Initio Training: A Recipe for Success

As we look closer and pause for a minute, it becomes obvious that airline growth cannot take place without training the next generation but training the next generation often appears as an afterthought of airline growth.

We will address the general issue of low pass rate in airline selection faced by newly qualified pilots, as highlighted by Captain Andy O’Shea during his 2019 EATS’s presentation. A tragedy for many young and not-so-young candidates, and a waste of resources.

We will review and analyze the possible roots of the problem (licensing requirements, ATO standardization, and the Difference in objectives between training and the airline industry.

A questionnaire addressed to multiple European airlines’ HR and selection departments will help draw statistics on the actual situation and comments from the various players.

We will discuss the various solutions to improve the success rate of gaining access to the cockpit (cadet programs, sponsorship, airline supervision, APS-MCC, etc).

We will draw examples and lessons learned from close cooperation with partner airlines (Wizzair, Aegean/Olympic, Iraqi Airways), each with their own requirements and culture, and highlight the numerous benefits for the airlines when they get involved with the ab-initio training.

Pilot Conference
Day 2 – Wednesday 9th November 2022
Session 7 – 1415-1545