Austrian airlines are launching their own training programme for new pilots. They will train the pilots from no experience up to obtaining their ATPL. Austrian will abosrb the initial cost with cadets to pay back part of their training costs once they are employed.

Austrian has been struggling to attract experienced pilots to ensure it can continue it’s expansion plans so in partnership with the European Flight Academy which is part of the Lufthansa group they have decided to train their own pilots to meet the demand. Although costly this does give the airline the choice on the type of candidate / pilot they are looking for and they have the option to tailor the training accordingly to fit with Austrians operating culture and ethos.

Last year Austrian hired 145 pilots and there have already been 23 cadet pilots selected to begin their training on this scheme this month. 24 trainees have already been selected for the April course and Austrian are currently seeking candidates for an August course and beyond.

The course is expected to take 21 months so Austrian still needs to find experienced pilots to fill the gaps for almost the next 2 years. The cadets pilots on successful completion of their EASA ATPL will be offered positions on the Dash 8, Embraer 195 and Airbus A320.

Austrian currently has around 1100 pilots but is looking for around 100 cadet pilots to start courses over the next year or so.