Air France needs to recruit 250 pilots per year, to cover its own growth and retirements and those of its subsidiaries, Joon and Transavia. So, after an eight-year break, it has reopened its cadet pilot programme to train 72 pilots a year.
The first trainee pilots started at ENAC (French Civil Aviation School) this summer with a eight-month theoretical training course at the Toulouse campus. The cadets will continue for one year of practical flight training at the Montpellier, Carcassonne, Grenoble and St-Yan campuses before joining the Air France group as pilots on Airbus A320 or Boeing 737.
ENAC has been training pilots for airlines around the world for 70 years, including four of the ten largest airlines in the world.
“Air France and ENAC have been training the company’s future pilots with great expertise for many years,” said Olivier Dulat, EVP Flight Operations at Air France.
“By entrusting its cadets to a school of international stature and a reference in the world of aviation, Air France has chosen the best possible training for its future pilots.”
Olivier Chansou, Director of ENAC, said, “It is a great satisfaction to be Air France’s privileged partner in training the next generation of pilots. We share the same values of excellence and performance that underpin our cooperation.”
The École Nationale de l’Aviation Civile (ENAC), the French Civil Aviation Authority’s pilot training school, provides training and research activities in aeronautical engineering, air navigation and pilot instruction.
