Why there's a 'crisis coming up' for budget airlines

Image source, Getty Images

  • Author, Imran Rahman-Jones
  • Role, Newsbeat reporter

British low-cost airline Monarch has gone out of business, leaving thousands of employees without a job.

They had no warning. But some people in the aviation business aren't totally surprised by the news.

"It's a reflection on the industry," says Phil Flower from the Independent Pilots Association, a trade union for pilots.

"It's a race to the bottom in terms of prices."

The intense competition means that airlines - especially low-cost carriers - try to reduce costs as much as possible.

Those cuts have an impact on employees.

Phil Flower says it's particularly difficult for young pilots, who he compares to Uber drivers in terms of their employment rights.

He warns that as a result, "there is a crisis coming up in terms of pilot numbers.

"Many young pilots are now in a gig-economy-type situation."

Image source, Getty Images

Because they're trying to keep their own costs down, Phil Flower says many airlines won't pay for pilots' training - which can cost over 拢100,000 in total.

Aspiring pilots can get bank loans for this - but many may already be in debt from university, and can't work in the year it takes to get a frozen Airline Transport Pilots Licence (ATPL).

That's the first step to being able to fly a commercial jet.

"More and more, we're seeing young pilots relying on the bank of mum and dad because airlines won't pay for training," says Phil Flower.

He says this means that the number of new pilots is reduced to those who can afford it.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, The RAF was a traditional recruiting ground for commercial airlines, but their numbers are falling

After the huge expense and long training period, pilots starting at budget airlines like Monarch may only get paid between 拢20,000 and 拢22,000, says Phil Flower.

"The ambition for young pilots at low-cost carriers is definitely to move up to one of the more established airlines in the future," he says.

Meanwhile, Monarch pilots could find it harder to find a new job straight away because the peak summer season has just come to an end.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Airbus is a European-wide aeronautics company

Lots of people are suggesting that Ryanair - who have had to cancel thousands of flights because of a lack of available pilots - could just hire the ex-Monarch flight crew.

This isn't as easy as it sounds because the two airlines use different types of planes.

Monarch almost exclusively used planes made by Airbus, while Ryanair

Pilots can't just switch from one to another - they would have to retrain to be able to fly a new kind of plane.

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