<p>As airline operations around the world have rapidly come to an almost standstill, there have been many pleas to governments for financial assistance to carriers. The carriers have also been asking for help from their suppliers as well.</p>
<p><img alt="Anthony Petteford - VA" src="/getasset/ee62b7f1-9180-4cdb-bd14-40029ef9abf0/" /></p>
<p>There have been varying responses to these calls. Some governments are providing considerable help with funds, although that has not prevented an awful lot of furloughing of jobs.</p>
<p>In the world of training, where for many the required costs for many a candidate are already a challenge, some companies are stepping up to help those individuals.</p>
<p>Among those is VA Airline Training (VA), which has announced that it will reinforce its commitment to supporting pilots “in various ways during this extremely challenging period, with further service enhancements”.</p>
<p>VA says it will be providing additional APS MCC (Airline Pilot Standard Multi-Crew Cooperation) 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,” the company elaborates.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Further financial help is being put in place in the wake of VA’s successful ‘Bursary 24’ offer which was launched during March 2020. The company has announced that an additional 24 of the £500 bursaries will now be available throughout April and May 2020. Thus, pilots booking either a VA APS MCC or a Ryanair Mentored APS MCC will receive a £500 bursary to secure the course for £6,400 including VAT instead of the regular £6,900 course fee. As one UK supermarket says in its tagline, “Every little helps!”</p>
<p>“The current situation is difficult for everyone,” notes Anthony Petteford, managing director of VA Airline Training. “We empathise with those pilots who are nearing the final phases of their training, but facing flight training delays and additional financial challenges. We will do what we can to support and help them achieve their APS MCC certificate so that they are genuinely airline ready when the recovery does come.</p>
<p>“VA has always put our customers first: recent examples include the simulator preparation support we provided for Thomas Cook pilots and recently updated in support of our Flybe family,” Petteford continues. “This aligns with the competency refresher training we provided for each of our Ryanair APS Mentored Programme graduates when recruitment slowed last year due to the Boeing 737 MAX grounding. Our Graduate Placement Support is there for our graduates in good as well as challenging times such as these.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, with the COVID-19 pandemic ensuring that group lessons are prohibited, VA has stated that APS MCC course start dates may now be “rolled forward” to a later date to accommodate the inevitable delays in aircraft flight training, but without the application of the usual administrative change fee.</p>
<p>Clearly any training together personally in groups is currently out of the question, so VA has followed the guidelines and taken the responsible and safe decision to postpone such careers events. The company says it will soon announce a ‘virtual event’. In the interim, the VA team is running Q&A sessions through its social media platforms.</p>
<hr />
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<p><img alt="Anthony Petteford - VA" src="/getasset/ee62b7f1-9180-4cdb-bd14-40029ef9abf0/" /></p>
<p>There have been varying responses to these calls. Some governments are providing considerable help with funds, although that has not prevented an awful lot of furloughing of jobs.</p>
<p>In the world of training, where for many the required costs for many a candidate are already a challenge, some companies are stepping up to help those individuals.</p>
<p>Among those is VA Airline Training (VA), which has announced that it will reinforce its commitment to supporting pilots “in various ways during this extremely challenging period, with further service enhancements”.</p>
<p>VA says it will be providing additional APS MCC (Airline Pilot Standard Multi-Crew Cooperation) 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,” the company elaborates.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Further financial help is being put in place in the wake of VA’s successful ‘Bursary 24’ offer which was launched during March 2020. The company has announced that an additional 24 of the £500 bursaries will now be available throughout April and May 2020. Thus, pilots booking either a VA APS MCC or a Ryanair Mentored APS MCC will receive a £500 bursary to secure the course for £6,400 including VAT instead of the regular £6,900 course fee. As one UK supermarket says in its tagline, “Every little helps!”</p>
<p>“The current situation is difficult for everyone,” notes Anthony Petteford, managing director of VA Airline Training. “We empathise with those pilots who are nearing the final phases of their training, but facing flight training delays and additional financial challenges. We will do what we can to support and help them achieve their APS MCC certificate so that they are genuinely airline ready when the recovery does come.</p>
<p>“VA has always put our customers first: recent examples include the simulator preparation support we provided for Thomas Cook pilots and recently updated in support of our Flybe family,” Petteford continues. “This aligns with the competency refresher training we provided for each of our Ryanair APS Mentored Programme graduates when recruitment slowed last year due to the Boeing 737 MAX grounding. Our Graduate Placement Support is there for our graduates in good as well as challenging times such as these.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, with the COVID-19 pandemic ensuring that group lessons are prohibited, VA has stated that APS MCC course start dates may now be “rolled forward” to a later date to accommodate the inevitable delays in aircraft flight training, but without the application of the usual administrative change fee.</p>
<p>Clearly any training together personally in groups is currently out of the question, so VA has followed the guidelines and taken the responsible and safe decision to postpone such careers events. The company says it will soon announce a ‘virtual event’. In the interim, the VA team is running Q&A sessions through its social media platforms.</p>
<hr />
<p><a href="https://jobs.flightglobal.com/register/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=FJ_register"><img alt="Register with Flight Jobs" src="/getasset/a95f9bbd-4d54-40bd-91fb-e090dc9d5295/" /></a></p>