This World Pilot’s Day easyJet has announced that it has reopened its Generation easyJet Pilot Training programme for the 2023 intake of approximately 200 aspiring pilots. The Generation easyJet Pilot Training Programme is delivered in partnership with CAE and provides aspiring airline pilots with training to become qualified commercial airline pilots in around two years.
Ground training is delivered at CAE’s European aviation academy locations in Gatwick, Milan, Brussels, or Madrid, and flight training at CAE Phoenix in the USA. Upon successful completion of the programme, graduates begin their careers flying as a Second Officer with easyJet.
A cohort of cadet pilots selected when the programme re-opened in January 2022 is already in training. Applications are now being accepted for programmes beginning in December 2023 and graduating in 2026.
Over the next five years, more than 1,000 new pilots are expected to join easyJet. The airline said it encouraged those from diverse backgrounds to consider applying, including having a focus on driving more female pilots.
easyJet has pledged its support for CAE Women in Flight, providing one European candidate access to their first employment opportunity. CAE funds and provides pilot training for the successful candidate at one of CAE’s aviation academies. The successful recipient becomes a CAE Women in Flight ambassador, encouraging more girls and women to consider a career in aviation by dreaming big and having no limits.
Captain David Morgan, chief operating officer for easyJet, said: “We are delighted to have opened applications for this year’s Generation easyJet Pilot Training Programme 2023 as part of our plan to recruit and train 1,000 new pilots by 2027. Ensuring we attract a diverse pipeline of people to join us and that they thrive as part of the easyJet team is crucial and so it remains a priority for us to challenge gendered stereotypes of the career to encourage more women to choose a career as a pilot.
"While we are proud to have doubled the number of women flying with us in recent years, we know there is always more to be done to increase diversity in all of its forms in the flight deck and so we are committed to continue leading the industry in this direction. We are excited to welcome the next generation of pilots to easyJet in the coming months and years and look forward to seeing them soar to new heights.”
Subscribe here for the latest news where you live
Nick Leontidis, CAE’s group president for civil aviation, added: “We look forward to training the next generation of easyJet pilots at CAE locations in Europe later this year. The Generation easyJet Pilot Training Programme provides an opportunity for aspiring pilots to realize their dream of a career in the flight deck.
"We are especially proud that our CAE Women in Flight partnership with easyJet is encouraging more women to reach for the sky and become an airline pilot. As a longstanding airline partner, easyJet can count on CAE’s support as it pursues its growth objectives and the recruitment of 1,000 pilots by 2027.”
With still only around 6% of pilots worldwide being women, easyJet said it had been focused on "tackling this industry-wide gender imbalance head-on", by encouraging more women to join its cadet pilot programme.
Alongside recruitment campaigns and working with training partners to attract more women and people from diverse backgrounds to the career now, over the past seven years the airline’s Pilot School Visits programme has seen pilots present to hundreds of schools up and down the country, all with the aim of challenging stereotypes about the job and show it’s a career for everyone.
Most recently, the airline announced a partnership with diversity in aviation youth organisation Fantasy Wings to provide young women and young people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds with greater opportunity to launch a career in the industry, through Fantasy Wings’ aviation career development programme. easyJet is sponsoring places for students from 50 schools across the UK to join the programme, which is designed to equip young people with the necessary tools they need to succeed in the industry and land their first-time role through skills development, practical knowledge training, career mentorship by industry leaders and even flight training.
This year’s Fantasy Wings programme is due to commence in October 2023 and enrolment will open to students between the ages of 13 and 25 who are based in the UK. To register for updates on the Fantasy Wings programme visit fantasywings.co.uk/register
To apply to the Generation easyJet Pilot Training Programme, aspiring pilots will need to be aged 18 or over by the time they begin training and will need to provide certificates that demonstrate they have passed the High School/Secondary School exams for Maths, English, or any science, along with two other subjects – no higher qualifications or degrees are required.
The Generation easyJet Pilot Training Programme is now open for aspiring pilots to apply at http://becomeapilot.easyjet.com/
