New airline cadet programs remove barriers to pilot careers

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Further expanding on its long-standing relationship with the Qantas Group, Oxford Aviation Academy (OAA) has entered into a partnership with low fares airline Jetstar to offer a new range of mentored airline pilot training courses for Australians and New Zealanders.

The programmes, which will make pilot careers much more accessible, are the:

Â Ab Initio Cadet (AIC) Pilot Programme - for students with zero previous flight experience AND

Advanced Cadet (AC) Pilot Programme - for students who already hold a Commercial Pilotâ€™s License with Command Instrument Rating

Recognising the need for a high quality, well trained and reliable supply of capable First Officers for its rapid fleet expansion plans, Jetstar has adopted the European model of training airline pilots. This means that cadet airline pilots, once trained, can commence employment with Jetstar as First Officers flying Airbus A320 type airliners without any need to have built flight-time experience working as pilots in General Aviation.

OAA has been using the AIC model to train airline pilots (through its App First Officer course) from its Oxford UK training centre for almost 50 years. Therefore it was a natural choice for Jetstar to enter into a partnership with OAA to deliver this model to the Australian and New Zealand market through training centres based at Moorabbin Melbourne and Hong Kong.

OAA Group Managing Director Anthony Petteford said:Â â€œWe are honoured to be invited to partner with Jetstar to both support innovation and encourage greater diversity of enrolment into airline pilot training throughout Australia and the Asia Pacific. This new relationship with Jetstar is truly complementary to the 50 year heritage of Oxford providing ab initio cadet pilot training to airlines worldwide.â€

Both courses are based on high quality Commercial Pilotâ€™s Licence with multi-engine Command Instrument Rating training, using Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) equipped aircraft. Cadets will undertake a Multi-Crew Cooperation (MCC) and Jet Orientation Course (JOC) delivered on a brand new jet simulator in the OAA Moorabbin training centre using specific Jetstar Standard Operating Procedures. As part of the course they will then travel to OAA Hong Kong to receive type endorsement training for the A320 aircraft before returning to commence aircraft line training and employment as First Officers with Jetstar.

Cadets enrolled in the AIC Pilot Programme will also complete a unique Associate Degree of Aviation in partnership with Swinburne University of Technology based at Hawthorn in Melbourne.Â This programme will provide students with highly valuable airline management, commercial, economic and operational skills which will enhance their vitally important roles as First Officers within the cost conscious environment of an airline dedicated to providing every-day low fares for passengers.Â Australian citizens enrolled in the Associate Degree of Aviation will also have access to Australian Government FEE-HELP.

In addition to the innovate delivery of the the new MCC and JOC training, all cadets will receive five hours of â€™upset-recoveryâ€™ training in aerobatic aircraft. AIC students will also complete a comprehensive course of high performance training in the EFIS equipped BE90 Kingair to master the challenges of high speed, high altitude complex aircraft flying â€“ no other airline cadet pilot training course in Australia or New Zealand has such a blend of innovative training and skills development.

It is expected that demand for available places (up to 70 in year one) will be highly competitive. All short-listed applicants must complete up to two days of joint OAA/Jetstar Skills Selection at Moorabbin which will involve a combination of computerised testing, psychometric profiling, simulator flight exercise, group exercises and individual interviews.

In terms of funding for the programmes:

The AC programme will be fully fee assisted by Jetstar with the costs recovered through salary sacrifice during airline employment.

The AIC programme will be student funded, however fee assistance will be available through a blend of the Government FEE-HELP loan scheme to eligible cadets and Airline funding (recovered through salary sacrifice) with the student contributing $40k of funding during course delivery.

The unique way in which these courses are delivered, mentored and fee assisted represents a major contribution towards student diversity in Australia/NZ by both OAA and Jetstar â€“ now enabling access to an airline pilot careerÂ to students from all backgrounds.

Jetstar Chief Executive Officer Bruce Buchanan said the breakthrough programme and partnership with a leading pilot training supplier would complement Jetstarâ€™s existing pilot recruitment activity and would supply a significant number of its future pilots. â€œWe are anticipating a strong response to this
attractive new program which seeks to remove some of the traditional barriers to becoming a commercial jet pilot,â€ he said.

According to Swinburneâ€™s Dean of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Professor John Beynon, the programme will draw on the long standing collaboration between Oxford Aviation Academy and Swinburne. â€œCombining the innovative Associate Degree of Aviation from Swinburne and Oxford's extensive training capability from ab initio to type rating, the programme will produce pilot graduates ready for first officer positions with Jetstar Airways and with the educational requirements to develop their future careers.â€

As well as Jetstar Australia/NZ, similar cadet programmes are also being developed for launch in the near future by Jetstar Asia in Singapore and Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam.