Skyborne Airline Academy, the pilot-training company, will take in its first cadets for Ryanair in March under a new deal with the Irish group.
Skyborne trains pilots for several carriers at bases in Bournemouth and Gloucestershire in Britain and Vero Beach, Florida, in the US.
The company will take on its first group of trainees for Ryanair in March following an agreement reached with the Irish airline last year, according to Skyborne chief executive Lee Woodward. Skyborne is interested in recruiting candidates from the Republic, he added.
Pilots for the Ryanair course are pre-selected, according to Mr Woodward. Once they complete the programme, which takes about 18 months, they will start as second officers with Ryanair.
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More than 99 per cent of those who sign up for courses Skyborne runs in partnership with airlines successfully complete their training and go on to take up posts with the carriers, Mr Woodward noted.
Demand for pilots is high in Europe and around the world as air travel continues growing.
“There is a shortage of pilots worldwide,” Mr Woodward said.
According to some estimates, Europe will need 5,000 new pilots a year for the next decade.
Leading US aircraft manufacturer Boeing calculates that 660,000 commercial pilots will have to be trained globally over the next 20 years.
Ryanair says it is committed to recruiting “aspiring pilots for future positions” as it takes delivery of more than 300 new Boeing 737 Max 10 aircraft over the next decade.
Ireland trains about 100 a year, but efforts are in progress to establish more training schools and a low-cost loan scheme for candidates,. This could help increase the number of pilots trained across the island annually to 400.
Mr Woodward said he would “100 per cent support any initiative that would lower costs” for trainee pilots.
Learning to fly commercial aircraft is expensive. Skyborne’s costs run to £130,000 (€150,000), with candidates getting licences from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) upon completion.
The charges are £120,000 where the trainee chooses a CAA permit only. Those training for Ryanair will need an EASA and CAA licence.
Skyborne hopes to open a new facility which would allow it to take on more trainees.
“Our goal is to open a European base,” said Mr Woodward.
He added that the company was involved in talks on a number of locations.
Skyborne has trained pilots for British Airways, Easyjet and other global airlines.
