Pay to fly

Origin

On 2 November 1924, Harold Pitcairn founded the Pitcairn Flying School and Passenger Service.

Rebranded Eastern Air Lines in 1926, it flourished for decades after the 1950s until acquired by Franz Lorenzo in 1985 amidst indebtment and labour dispute in the new Airline Deregulation Act market. Management decisions (e.g. asset transfer to Continental Airlines) combined with further labour unrest against IAM, TWA and ALPA during the 1989 Easter Airline strike led to the company liquidation in 1991.

In 1988, Thomas L. Cooper, one of its former Boeing 727 captain who flew during the 1989 strike, launched a small charter company named Gulfstream International Airlines (GIA) offering flights around South Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba in Cessna 402s. Early on, Captain candidates paid $15,000 up front starting in 1992 with intermediary business Avtar International doing the recruiting and advertising, selling multi-engine time in Cessna 402s with the assurance from the Miami Flight Standard District Office that this time was loggable. At the time, these pilots received compensation only following successful completion of Initial Operating Experience (IOE).

FAA

The Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash led to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) passing new pilot qualification standards. These standards also addressed a mandate passed by the U.S. Congress when they enacted H.R. 5900 (111th), the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010.

This act also foresaw the modification of "requirements for the issuance of an airline transport pilot certificate" in ways that were implemented by FAA's regulation & policy n°8900.225 titled Pilot Certification and Qualification Requirements for Air Carrier Operations on July 10, 2013

Aforementioned regulation reduced the scope of 'pay-to-fly' among FAA licensees by raising minimum standards. Indeed, to serve as SIC (Second In Command or First Officer) :

"A pilot may be eligible if he or she was a military-trained pilot; a graduate of a four-year bachelor degree program with an aviation major; a graduate of a two-year associate degree program with an aviation major; or has 1,500 hours total time as a pilot".

No regulations explicitly ban 'pay-to-fly'.

EASA

In Europe, among EASA licence holders, 'pay-to-fly' is a practice acknowledged to exist, though, "neither the European Commission, nor the EASA cared":

"The fact that airlines make their personnel pay does not intervene in aviation safety regulation, as long as pilots are technically qualified", said Dominique Fouda, EASA Head of Communication & Quality Department.

Several studies changed this position however.

Switzerland

According to FOCA vice director Marcel Zuckschwerdt:

"There is no regulation that would prohibit from doing this [pay-to-fly], it is absolutely possible. One can wonder of course, is it safe? Is it acceptable in terms of safety? And when we examined the matter, we reached the conclusion that, in the end, it's the pilot motivation that is the argument to say it is satisfying in terms of safety" (at 9':50")

France

'Pay-to-fly' is illegal per social regulation as a work contract can be established on demand by a judge as long as:

1. there's a proven subordination relationship between the service provider and the party benefiting from said service;
2. the moral or physical person benefiting from the service enforces a framework to which the service provider abides.

Legal action can be taken in case of violation, and sanctions can amount from 45,000 to 220,000 euros in fines and 3 years of prison. According to the French DGAC, "pay-to-fly is not used among carriers operated under the French flag" which doesn't prevent French pilots from suffering from it.

Statistics

In 2013, 1,739 French pilots were registed in Pôle emploi, a 43% rise as per the three preceding years. In December 2014, graduate student pilots from the ENAC (French Civil Aviation University) alone, reported under the AGEPAC association that, from 2006 to 2011 concerning a sample of 319 pilots:

As a result, of the pilots not flying as their main activity:

Norway

The Civil Aviation Authority, responsible for aviation safety in Norway, is not concerned.

According to Frode Lenning, head of Fleet Operation Section, CAA: “Pilots have been trained within commercial companies for years. However, it is new that some companies ask money to train pilots within their own company [...] We have been training cadet pilots in the cockpit for years, at different levels. What is new here, is the social aspect, and this is not part of the aviation safety regulatory system” ".

However, during the pilots' strike of Norwegian in March 2015, 'pay-to-fly' airline Small Planet Airlines performed 50 NAS slots under wet lease, establishing a workforce that pay to work while at the same time breaking their colleagues' strike.

Netherlands

Since 2008 the job market for pilots has deteriorated rapidly. Most pilots that have been trained at a Dutch flight school have to look for a job abroad. According to VNV-DALPA the job market for ab initio pilots is poor. "Some companies outside the Netherlands do hire pilots, but these are so-called pay to fly-schemes. This means pilots have to invest a lot of money for a badly paid job and a temporary contract".

On May 22, 2015, Member of Dutch Parliament Martijn van Helvert issued a first round of four questions to the House of Representatives of the States General on 'pay to fly', answered on June 2, 2015 by former State Secretary for the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment Wilma Mansveld.

A second round of seven questions and answers followed on June 22, 2015.

Statistics

In February 2015 the Dutch Airline Pilots Association (VNV - Dutch ALPA) reported 1,200 Dutch pilots out of 4,100 worldwide (almost 30%) were unemployed. The unemployment rate remains high.

Germany

On May 5, 2015, Member of European Parliament Jutta Steinruck issued a set of three written questions to the European Commission under the subject "Exploitative employment models at low-cost airlines (‘Pay to Fly’)":

1. Is the Commission aware that European airlines operate Pay to Fly schemes?
2. Does the Commission agree that this employment model may undermine aviation safety?
3. Does the Commission intend to take action against airlines which operate these exploitative schemes, and will it investigate training systems in the aviation sector?

On behalf of the Commission, on July 10th 2015, Violeta Bulc respectively answered:

1. The Commission has been informed recently by pilots' organisations about pay-to-fly schemes used by certain European airlines. The Commission services are currently investigating this specific matter.
2. The Commission has so far not received clear evidence as to the impact of this employment model on safety.
3. Based on the information and data collected, the nature and extent of the phenomenon will be assessed and the need for targeted action discussed at the appropriate level.

The questions were formulated 2 days before the May 7th 2015 EP "Committee on Employment and Social Affairs" meeting in Brussels that MEP Steinruck also attended where 'pay-to-fly' was discussed.

Statistics

From a 2013 Der Spiegel article, "According to calculations by [VC spokesman Handwerg]'s union, there are already more than 1,500 unemployed pilots in Germany, an upward trend".

United Kingdom

Following the ECA Conference of February 12-13th 2015 on "Atypical Employment" where one "Nextgen pilot [said] pay to fly is wrong but policy makers turning their backs [...]", BALPA launched the NexGen program on February 27 to "protect the Profession by reaching down to new entrants". Acknowledging "the most difficult part of pilots’ career is the beginning", Wendy Pursey, head of membership and career services at BALPA authored a booklet titled Becoming A Pilot: The Inside Track, warning :

"BALPA does not recommend funding type ratings unless absolutely necessary".

Statistics

Questioned by The Guardian on October 24, 2015, Pursey assessed :

Of the 560 cadets in Balpa’s membership :

French Senate report

On April 10th 2014, Senator Éric Bocquet released an Information Report on behalf of the European Affairs Commission on social dumping in European transport. In the aviation sector specifically (chapter II), subpart B (frauds), Senator Bocquet acknowledged "Strategic Airlines Luxembourg had, for all intents and purposes, setup a system of pay-to-fly, young pilots having to pay in order to fly and thus acquire flight hours".

Ghent University study

Co-financed by the European Commission and carried out across 11 countries by the Ghent University on behalf of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for Civil Aviation (notably the AEA, the ECA and the ETF), the study on "Atypical Employment in Aviation" was presented during the High-Level Atypical Employment conference in Paris the 12th and 13 February 2015.

Accounting for policy options, the study concluded:

"A mandatory internship for newly licensed cadets should be considered. Pilots fresh from school are in an extremely weak labour market position often only finding jobs at deplorable conditions or even having to resort to pay-to-fly schemes in order to clock up the flight experience required by airlines offering better conditions. [...] It is our strong opinion that pay-to-fly schemes should be prohibited, not only in the European Union, but globally".

Expert consultancy

French National Assembly report

On June 28th 2016, deputy member of the Assemblée Nationale Gilles Savary presented an Information Report on behalf of the commission for European Affairs and focused on the european strategy for aviation issued by the European Commission on December 7th 2015. Paragraph II.C.1. asserts that Senator Bocquet's report "published little more than two years ago established an enlighting overview on social dumping associated with applicable right in the air transport, which remains fully relevant to this day". Subsequent II.C.1.a. titled "European Commission adopts a near laissez-faire attitude towards the labour aspect" states:

"Representative stakeholder organizations heard by the rapporteur brought an important nuance [...]: labour law in the [aviation] sector is not only poorly applied but also insufficient. Atypical employment forms (zero hours contracts, «pay-to-fly» scheme, fake self-employment and mailbox companies) aren't to blame on diverging rule interpretation but truly on their loopholes".

MyTravel Airways

On 5 July 2007, a First Officer who was not an employee but was paying MyTravel to gain flight experience on their aircraft (pay-to-fly), landed an Airbus A320 heavily at Kos airport in Greece causing substantial damage to the main landing gear. The report was critical of both the pilots training record and non-employees paying airlines to gain experience.

In February the same year, MyTravel Group plc agreed on a merger with Thomas Cook AG that became effective in June. As a result, the accident occurred under the common umbrella of Thomas Cook Group plc (as listed on the London Stock Exchange), with MyTravel Airways and Thomas Cook Airlines UK Ltd fusing into Thomas Cook Airlines on 30 March 2008.

Airlines and brokers involved

When the information is available, brokers also aviation schools are prefixed: *

TRTOs (Type Rating Training Organisations) prefixed: **

(1) "Note that [ATCT] work[s] very closely with Brookfield Aviations, the world leading pilot Brookers [sic] who will place you in an airline".

(2) This is "false accusations"_A spokesman for the Irish budget airline

(3) "Pay-to-fly at Germania? That is nonsense"_Karsten Balke, Chief Executive Officer of Germania