This week, more precisely on May 9, 2018, 20 pilot trainees started their training to become pilots for Austrian Airlines. The airline still has room for 34 people for the courses in August and November, and room for 96 future pilots for the training beginning in 2019.

The call for applications targets women and men without any previous experience as pilots (so-called “ab initios”). The training of a pilot lasts for two years and costs about EUR 100,000. The entry into this attractive profession should be facilitated from now on thanks to a new financing model.

The underlying reason is that Austrian Airlines now offers a lower repayment amount for the pilot training. Instead of the customary repayment totalling about EUR 60,000 up until now, pilots will only have to assume costs of EUR 40,000 over a period of ten years.

The company itself will now bear the majority of the costs.

By the way, the training course which began this week is the sixth one within the context of Austrian Airlines’ own training program and commenced right away with theoretical instruction held in Bremen, Germany. Subsequently the first training flight will take place in Goodyear, Arizona (USA). Upon successful completion of the 22-month training period, the trainees will be given the Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL).