British Airways’ Speedbird Pilot Academy Opens For Applications

Summary

• British Airways to open applications for second cadet intake for fully-funded pilot training.
• Overwhelming response in the first year with 20,000 applicants for just 100 spots.
• Training course includes ground school, basic and advanced flight training, and APS MCC. Apply early!

British Airways will open applications for the second intake of cadets for its Speedbird Pilot Academy. The airline’s cadet scheme attracted huge interest during its first year, with over 20,000 applications placed for just 100 openings.

BA opens pilot cadet applications

The British flag carrier will open applications on Tuesday, April 16th, with another 100 places for budding pilots available. The fully-funded pilot cadet scheme will cover the £100,000 in training costs for each candidate, removing the prohibitive costs of self-funding that prevent more individuals from pursuing a career as a pilot.

British Airways Director of Flight Operations, Simon Cheadle, commented,

“We’re incredibly proud to be able to open the door to a flying career to more people through this programme. We know from the overwhelming response and high standard of applications we had in the first year of Speedbird Pilot Academy, that there are a lot of talented people who just need a little bit of help to achieve their dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot – and we are pleased to give them that opportunity.”

The integrated flight courses are on a full-time basis and will take between 18–24 months to complete. At the end of it all, successful candidates will then be able to join British Airways, starting as an Airbus A320 first officer serving the airline’s short-to-medium haul network.

How to apply

You will need to apply once applications open on April 16th through the carrier’s career website. Importantly, the airline states that it “may need to close applications early” if there is significant interest in positions, so be sure to apply as soon as possible if interested – you can sign up for job alerts that will notify you as soon as the application page is open.

The training course will entail:

• 6-8 months of ground school, including 13 pilot exams
• 6 months of basic flight training
• 4-6 months of advanced flight training
• 3-4 week of APS MCC (Airline Pilot Standards Multi-Crew Cooperation Course)

Applicants must be aged 17-55 (18 years old when training starts), fluent in English (or achieve an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Level of 5.5 overall), and be between 1.57m (5’2″) and 1.90m (6’3″) tall. British Airways encourages applicants to read through its Preparation Materials before applying.

Investing in the future

BA first opened applications for the new scheme in September 2023, with Spanish pilot school FTEJerez and UK-based Skyborne Airline Academy as official partners. Demand for places was through the roof, with over 20,000 people applying for 100 positions.

In March, the carrier announced it would be investing £7 billion in a transformation plan to modernize its operations, with a portion of this funding dedicated to finding and training the next generation of pilots.

Would you be interested in applying for British Airways’ Speedbird pilot academy? Let us know in the comment section!