VA Enhances Support to Pilots During COVID-19 Pandemic

VA Airline Training (VA) is committed to supporting pilots in various ways during this extremely challenging period, with further service enhancements.

VA provides additional APS MCC training free of charge during a course to ensure genuine competence and readiness for the skills test, airline selection and type rating training. During this pandemic, APS MCC graduate core skills and currency should be maintained in preparation for attending future airline assessments. Any VA APS MCC graduate who finishes an APS MCC training course after 1 March 2020 and who does not get invited to an airline simulator assessment (due to the COVID-19 circumstances) within six months of their course completion date, will receive individually tailored, ‘special arrangement’, competency refresher training from VA free of charge.

Following the success of its ‘Bursary 24’ offer during March 2020, VA has made available an additional 24 £500 Bursaries throughout the months of April and May 2020.

Pilots booking either a VA APS MCC or a Ryanair Mentored APS MCC willreceive a £500 bursary to secure the course for £6,400 including VAT instead ofthe regular £6,900 course fee.

Announcing the extension of the APS MCC bursary offer, AnthonyPetteford, Managing Director of VA Airline Training said: “The currentsituation is difficult for everyone. We empathise with those pilots who arenearing the final phases of their training but facing flight training delaysand additional financial challenges. We will do what we can to support and helpthem achieve their APS MCC certificate so that they are genuinely airline readywhen the recovery does come.”

“VA has always put our customers first: recent examples includethe simulator preparation support we provided for Thomas Cook pilots and recentlyupdated in support of our Flybe family. This aligns with the competency refreshertraining we provided for each of our Ryanair APS Mentored Programme graduateswhen recruitment slowed last year due to the B737 MAX grounding. Our GraduatePlacement Support is there for our graduates in good as well as challenging timessuch as these.”

APS MCC course start dates may now be ‘rolled forward’ to a laterdate to accommodate the inevitable delays in aircraft flight training withoutthe application of the usual administrative change fee.

VA offers four regular fee incentives, two of which havebeen enhanced to provide additional support at this time:

1. Enhanced – Birds of a Feather: VA’s aviation industryincentive entitles those already in possession of a valid industry cabin crewor pilot (SPA) ID (or have parents who hold industry ID) to a £150 feeincentive. From 1 April 2020, this offer is now extended further to any pilot(or their parents) who is/was a member of any of our emergency services or the NHS.

2. Enhanced – Early Bird*: Pilots who pay in full at least60 days in advance of their course start date will now receive an enhanced £250fee incentive (increased from 1 April 2020. The previous incentive value was £150).

3. Book as a Pair*: £150 fee incentive per pilot if both bookonto the same APS MCC course simultaneously.

4. Point A Pilot: A VA Graduate Loyalty incentive. VAGraduates may ‘point’ another pilot to complete their APS MCC with VA and both partiesbenefit. The ‘pointed’ pilot earns a £150 credit towards their APS MCC orfuture training. The ‘pointing’ VA Graduate pilot also earns a £150 credittowards an Airline Simulator Assessment Preparation session or Flight SimulatorExperience.

VA has taken the responsible and safe decision to postponetheir careers event planned for 4 April 2020 but will now announce a ‘virtualevent’ very soon. In the interim, the company is running Q&A sessionsthrough its social media platforms.

(*Not applicable to Ryanair Mentored APS MCC Programme course bookings)