Wizz Air, the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe and one of Europe’s fastest growing airlines, today announced the launch of its Wizz Air Pilot Academy in Bulgaria. This program offers young adults with no or little flying experience the unique opportunity to obtain a Commercial Pilot’s License with and the perspective of working as a pilot at Wizz Air.
Within the framework of the program, contracted pilot schools - Tréner Kft in Nyíregyháza, Hungary and Egnatia Aviation in Kavala, Greece – will provide high-quality training, following Wizz Air’s standards, while WIZZ will support cadets enrolled in the program, meeting certain terms and conditions, by pre-financing a significant part of their tuition fees in order to lower the barriers to start their career as pilots.
The integrated training program consists of 750 hours of ground, 60 hours of simulator and 145 hours of flight training over the course of 17 to 21 months. During this Ab Initio Training, cadets gain the necessary knowledge and develop the skills needed to be able to launch their airline pilot career at Wizz Air and support the significant expansion of the airline.
From the start, the objective of the Wizz Air Pilot Academy is to guide all cadets through the program, fully preparing them to start their career at Wizz Air. Since its launch in Poland and Romania, two courses have commenced, with the first group of cadets from Poland passing the first evaluation after 5 months of intense training with a 100% success rate. After graduating from the Pilot Academy and completing all further necessary trainings, they can start as First Officers on the WIZZ network, and continue building on their career as Trainers or Commanders of the Airbus A320/A321s.
Wizz Air has recently celebrated the 100th aircraft joining its fleet, just 14 years after the start of operations. WIZZ will continue to develop its network, as it drives towards its ambition of becoming one of the top 5 airlines in Europe, with 300 aircraft carrying 100 million passengers and having over 10.000 employees in 10 years or less. Future growth plans are underpinned by committed orders for a further 268 latest-technology aircraft for delivery until the end of 2026, which will create further growth opportunities to Wizz Air employees.
Diederik Pen, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer at Wizz Air, said: “We are thrilled to launch the Wizz Air Pilot Academy in Bulgaria, one of the most important countries in the WIZZ Network, where we currently have 2 bases and approximately 350 employees. Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback and great performance of the cadets in the first two groups, we believe that the program is the perfect opportunity for young Bulgarian aspirants to accomplish their dreams of becoming a pilot. As we continue to expand our operations in order to become one of the top 5 airlines in Europe in the next decade, we will be able to provide even more interesting career opportunities to our growing team of aviation specialists!”
Wizz Air will soon start recruitment in Bulgaria for courses starting in September with Egnatia Aviation in Greece and in November with Tréner Kft, and offers the opportunity for candidates to meet the team of Wizz Air Pilot Academy in person at one of the program’s Open Days.
More information on the program is available at pilot-academy.wizzair.com.
WIZZ AIR PILOT ACADEMY’S UPCOMING OPEN DAYS
DATE
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FLIGHT SCHOOL
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CITY
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VENUE
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06 July 2018
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Tréner Kft.
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Varna
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Golden Tulip Varna
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06 July 2018
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Egnatia Aviation
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Sofia
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Suite Hotel Sofia
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07 July 2018
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Egnatia Aviation
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Varna
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Golden Tulip Varna
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08 July 2018
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Tréner Kft.
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Sofia
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Suite Hotel Sofia
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