Responding to the Government’s Reach for the Sky program, designed to encourage young people into an aviation career, BALPA’s General Secretary Amy Leversidge said:

“BALPA welcomes the new Government’s ambition to enable young people to pursue aviation careers that would otherwise not be open them. Crucially, Government recognises the financial constraints for aspiring pilots.

The Pilot profession is still one of the most inaccessible professions in the world. Training to be a commercial pilot is extremely expensive, often costing cadets up to £130,000. There is no funding available for this huge cost, unlike other professions including law and medicine.

We hope that the Government will make the pilot profession more accessible by opening access to a state funding mechanism that will allow aspiring pilots to overcome the huge cost of training.

BALPA has long campaigned for this and look forward to working with the Government to make this a reality.”

BALPA called for the Government to make aviation more accessible as part of its 2024 election manifesto, available here.