Getting started as a pilot has not been difficult in recent years. Airlines were eager for new pilots, but corona is now hitting the sector unprecedented. And that also has consequences for students who now obtain their pilot’s license.
“I was very lucky,” said Melvin Lamens (22), a pilot at KLM for six months. The airline is getting billions of dollars in support from the government to get through the corona crisis, it became clear yesterday. KLM says job losses are inevitable. “I was lucky that I got a job just before the outbreak of the corona crisis.”
Waiting time
Lamens follows the situation in the aviation world closely. “Last year, KLM hired a lot of pilots, everything looked rosy at the time. Nobody has been hired since this year. So the pilots who have now graduated or will graduate will not be employed immediately. They will be given a waiting period.”
At the KLM Flight Academy, about 97 percent of students start working at the company later, says the study program. But if there is no work, then there is no job. In that case, waiting times therefore arise. Two years ago, KLM extended the financial guarantees so that the student debt – currently about one ton – does not rise while waiting for a job.
As a result of that waiting time, former classmates of Lamens are already taking other steps. “A lot of people in waiting are continuing their studies or looking for a temporary other job. Even before you start this training, you know that this can happen. It will take a few months, or even a few years.”
Although he is grateful that he has a job, the pilot also finds his situation not ideal. “I’d rather just fly again, it’s been months now,” he says. Lamens is a bit afraid of losing his job. “Nobody knows how the situation is developing, which makes me a bit more restless than usual. But I believe that everything is being done to prevent people from being fired. Hopefully, the cost reduction on wages is enough for that.”
Guarantee
The KLM Flight Academy trains about sixty students every year. That is a little too little in normal years, but certainly too much in a crisis, says director Bart de Vries. According to him, KLM will not want to hire new pilots in the coming years.
“Then those waiting lists rise, but there is also a guarantee on their student debt if they are not offered a job within five years. Every student finds this annoying and wants to get started right away. But they are also quite reasonable because it is financially risk does not hang over their heads, “says De Vries.
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