Virgin Atlantic announces its 2016 Future Flyers Programme
Last year the programme - which trains successful applicants with little or no previous flying experience - broke industry records, with over 8,000 candidates competing for 12 spaces.
The CTC WINGS Multi-crew Pilot Licence (MPL) airline pilot career programme in partnership with Virgin Atlantic, is the only one in Europe that sees new recruits training on long-haul aircraft once they receive their licence. Current successful trainees from the 2015 application window, come from an eclectic mix of backgrounds; including a lab admin assistant, a ski instructor, a policeman and a credit controller.
Chief Captain Dave Kistruck, General Manager of Flight Operations at Virgin Atlantic commented: “We launched our Future Flyers Programme to demonstrate that a piloting career really is an option for everyone and looking at the spectrum of last year’s applicants, I think they agreed! It’s a real credit to our airline, brand and people that CTC Aviation received more applications for our programme than any other and I can’t wait to see what this year’s applicants have to offer.”
Virgin Atlantic’s new trainees will initially be based in Southampton, at CTC Aviation’s headquarters which offers state of the art training facilities, highly qualified instructor teams and a rich history of providing skilled pilots for many international airlines.
The 18-month programme comprises theoretical knowledge instruction and full motion flight deck simulation at CTC Aviation’s Crew Training Centre Southampton, along with flight training at the company’s Phoenix, Arizona facilities. The programme leads towards the Civil Aviation Authority’s latest Multi-crew Pilot Licence (MPL) and a position as a Virgin Atlantic First Officer operating the Airbus A330-300. To ensure a smooth transition for all trainee pilots, a team of front-line Liaison Pilots will be on hand to answer questions, provide feedback and act as mentors for the recruits.