Following the collapse of three UK flight schools in the first half of 2023, the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) and aviation industry representatives have launched a campaign to ensure proper financial regulation of flight schools and secure a stable pilot training pipeline for the UK aviation industry.

Earlier this year, students who paid in advance for flight training were left seriously out of pocket when Tayside Aviation and FTA Global collapsed. Some trainees are owed up to £90,000, sums that are unlikely to be recovered from the liquidators.

The Civil Aviation Authority has a statutory responsibility under Retained EU law to operate an ongoing oversight program for UK-approved flight schools (ATOs) which includes requiring ‘evidence of sufficient funding’. “We do not believe that to date the UK CAA has discharged this responsibility diligently, or indeed at all,” said BALPA.

BALPA has joined with other aviation representatives and written to Government: the letter can be found here.

BALPA continues to warn aspiring pilots from paying upfront for flight training courses, but if necessary, only doing so with credit cards to secure some protection.

BALPA’S Position:

1. Make it a requirement of an ATO’s ongoing approval that they may not take advance payments or ‘deposits’ from consumers in excess of £5000 and that the option of payment by credit card must always be available, and with no surcharge applied. This will limit financial risk to trainees.
2. Review its oversight procedures for ATOs in order to achieve proper compliance with ATO regulations.
3. Consider the setup of a consumer protection scheme in the manner of ATOL that protects student pilot funds.

Source: BALPA