CTC Wings Cadet programme

Overview

We appreciate that flight training is expensive and raising the funds can prove an onerous task.   However, we are keen to enable people with the 'right stuff' - such as aptitude and interpersonal skills - to pursue their career goal.  With this in mind, we have worked closely with our partner airlines (your future potential employers) to develop a well-structured financing solution for successful CTC Wings candidates.   Our aim here is to clarify your finance needs and outline some funding options available to you.   

Don’t worry - you will not be required to make all your payments in advance.  As you will see from the 'funding required' section of this site, we have developed a payment schedule to manage your payments.  

The initial phase of your flight training in New Zealand - the 'Foundation Course' is self-funded and you will be required to pay this prior to the start of your flight training in NZ - generally approximately five months into your course.

CTC and, where applicable, your partner airline pay for all training and associated costs through the CTC Wings Cadet course until the end of the Basic (ATPL, CPL/IR) and Intermediate (AQC) training (excluding the 'Foundation Course').  This sponsorship represents a significant investment, hence, exposure to CTC and, where applicable, the partner airline.  Therefore, we require that you deposit a ‘security bond’ which will be held by one of CTC’s subsidiary companies, Airline Placement Limited (APL) during your training with us.

 

 

Bond Protection

We are very proud of our training record and more than 98% of our cadets complete training with flying colours.  However, when you are investing significant funds into your career, it is good to know that a considerable amount of the financial risk is reduced where possible.  When you combine CTC’s proven selection process with our unique £40,000 ‘Bond Protection’, we believe we offer the best such safeguard package available for aspiring pilots.  In addition to our strong track record, this ‘Bond Protection’ offers the added reassurance that your investment will be protected in the event of failure during training

The ‘Bond Protection’ provided by CTC gives substantial financial risk protection to a CTC Wings Cadet during this stage of training, where up to £40,000 of an individual’s security bond may be refunded by CTC in the unlikely event of course failure.

Funding required

We believe in ensuring you have a clear picture of all aspects of the programme and, therefore, we try to make sure that you are not surprised by any hidden costs once you are in training.  In order for you to accurately plan your finances and budget through training, the funding required is outlined below -

• Selection Fee
• Security Bond
• Foundation course

Selection fee:  £192

As we deal with large numbers of applicants, the administration cost of selection amounts to many thousands of pounds per selected candidate. We do not think it’s fair to ask only the successful ones to have to pay for all those that apply, so we ask everyone to contribute. We therefore charge you £192 inclusive of VAT to cover the cost of some industry-standard assessment tests. It is vital that we do this selection properly - so that you can be given the best advice about your likely chances of success in your future career and to ensure that we have selected the right person into training. On occasions, when linked to special promotional events, we do offer the opportunity for reduced or free selection.  (Please note:  for candidates who are not successful at selection, but are invited to re-apply at a future date, the re-application fee is £102.00 including VAT)

Security Bond: £69,000

As previously explained CTC and, where applicable, your partner airline pay for all training and associated costs through the CTC Wings Cadet course until the end of the Basic (ATPL, CPL/IR) and Intermediate (AQC) training excluding the 'Foundation Course'.  This sponsorship represents a significant investment, hence, exposure to CTC and, where applicable, the partner airline.  Therefore, we require that you deposit a ‘security bond’ of £69,000.  This is deposited in 12 instalments over the period of your basic training.  It is then held by one of CTC’s subsidiary companies, Airline Placement Limited (APL) until your placement with one of our Partner Airlines.

Schedule of instalments:

•     Total Bond : £69,000
•     12 instalments
•     1st instalment: due one month before the course starts
•     2nd instalment: due six months later
•     Remaining instalments: at monthly intervals

Foundation Course

The initial phase of flying training, post completion of your ATPL theory study and exams, is called the 'Foundation Phase'.
We have a wide range of people training with us on the cadet route with varying levels of experience when starting the course.  Therefore the hours required to complete this phase of your training can differ. The Foundation Course is delivered by CTC Aviation Training (NZ) Limited and the price is currently NZ$21,000 (Approximately £9,800).
You are required to pay this prior to commencement of your flight training in New Zealand. Any unused flying hours during the Foundation Course will be repaid to you pro-rata.

Additional costs:

JAA Class 1 Medical Fee – you are required to obtain a JAA Class 1 medical prior to commencing training with us.  The CAA charge for this is approximately £340.  For further details visit the CAA website.

Insurance – whilst you are in training you are required to take out certain insurance packages to obtain your NZ visa.  You may also wish to take out other optional insurance packages.  Details of these will be provided when you accept your course offer, but you should budget for approximately £1030 for the following:

        Before course start

• Term life assurance to protect finance arranged
• Loss of Training Expenses policy protecting the training investment in the event that loss of your medical status prevents completion of the course

        Before commencing training in New Zealand

• Medical, Travel and Personal Possessions insurance for the duration of your training in New Zealand as required by the New Zealand Education Act.

Airline Preparation Day (APD1) – once we have confirmed your course start date you will be invited to attend the first in a series of 'Airline Preparation Days' which are run at various stages throughout your training with us.  Your first 'APD'  will be held at our Crew Training Centre – Nursling.  This is essentially an induction day to meet your course colleagues and start to prepare for your training with us.  As part of our 'Vertically Integrated' (VI) approach to your training, this will be the first of several APDs spread throughout your training and starts to lay down the fundamental skills required to full prepare you to manage a modern jet as a professional pilot. 

This event is normally held approximately 2 weeks before your training commences and during the evening we open up the invitation for parents to join us for some drinks, a tour of the facilities and an opportunity to meet some of our team.  

You will need to keep this particular day in mind when budgeting as it will of course involve travel costs and potentially an overnight stay if you live some distance away.  Other similar days are interspersed through your training and do not need to be budgeted for.

Living Expenses – You do not need to worry about accommodation costs, travel to New Zealand or course uniform / equipment costs, but you do need to consider living expenses (eg food and fuel for your car) during training.  From experience we suggest you budget £5,000 per year for each year in training.  Once you start flying for your Partner Airline, you will receive a subsistence allowance of approximately £1,200 per month, although this may vary by airline.

Type Rating Training – depending on which of our partner airlines are recruiting when you complete the basic and intermediate phases of your training, you may be offered an opportunity with an airline that requires you to make a contribution towards the costs of the Advanced – Type Rating training.  Not all airlines require this and the actual charge can vary from airline to airline and from time to time.  A typical example can be found in 'during employment'.

Funding Options

The choice of where you obtain the funding for CTC Wings is entirely up to you.  We have detailed three possible options below:

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A is a Spanish bank with offices in London who are happy to accept applications for the funding of pilot training.  They will assess each application individually buy will require the loan to be secured against a property in the UK.  

They are unable to offer unsecured loans for pilot training.  As a guide only, the terms of the loan can be found here.  Please be aware that these may change at any time without notice. 

Guarantee Required: Mortgage over a property in the UK

Maximum amount: Full cost of the course plus living expenses if required.

Repayment period: 10 years maximum (including 24 month holiday period)

Interest: 2.5% plus BofE base rate

Insurance: Life and building insurance policies assigned to BBVA

Payment holiday: 24 months

Set up Commission: £650 flat fee (any further advances or modifications will incur a commission of £350.00 per advance or modification)

BBVA Legal expenses: The precise amount will depend on your circumstances but we estimate it will be approximately £1,250 (including estimated third party guarantor's legal fees)

Full or partial early cancellation commission: No charge

Learning Skills Council

CTC is a registered training provider with the Learning Skills Council who offer Professional and Career Development Loans to help students fund work related training.  You can borrow between £300 and £10,000 to help support the cost of up to two years of learning (or three years if it includes one year’s relevant unpaid practical work).

The Learning and Skills Council will pay the interest on the loan while you are in training with us and for one month afterwards. The loan can be used to pay course fees or other costs such as travel and living expenses. You can also use the loan to supplement other forms of support such as grants or bursaries.

Because the Professional and Career Development Loan is a commercial loan product, they should only be considered as an option once all other student funding options have been investigated. For further information on financial assistance to support your learning, please visit www.direct.gov.uk/adultlearning or contact Careers Advice on 0800 100 900.

CTC's Learning provider number which you will need to quote is: 10187.

BNP Paribas

CTC has agreed terms with Paris-based BNP Paribas to provide funding solutions for suitable CTC Wings applicants.  Cadets who are selected by CTC for the CTC Wings programme can open checking accounts in one of 6 international branches* and apply for student loans. Each application will be assessed individually.

1. Cadets can open a checking account with the Esprit Libre banking service plan. Those who are between the ages of 18 to 24 benefit from no monthly fees for two years for a Visa checkcard and an interest-free overdraft limit of 800€, within the interest-free threshold of 3€ (i.e a few days of credit).

2. Cadets can benefit from Student loans at a fixed interest rate of 2.70% (until further notice) which will be studied on a case by case basis.
 

Student loan terms and conditions:

• Parents must be French fiscal residents
• Maximum loan amount of 50,000.00€ (loan available according to the needs during the 5-year defferred period)
• Loan payments can be deferred for 5-year period commencing from the date of advance
• Loan term may be up to 10 years (deferral period included)
• Co-signers must be insured in the event of death or total and permanent disability and temporary inability to work (group insurance Cardif - Bnp Paribas Assurance).
• Cadets must provide a letter from CTC Aviation confirming they have been selected and presenting a payment schedule.

 * Only 6 specified branches of BNP Paribas are aware of this arrangement and able to assist.  Details of these specific branches are available on request from CTC's Pilot Administration Manager and will only be given to candidates who have passed selection. 

During Employment

100% of CTC Wings Cadet programme graduates have been placed with one of our Partner Airlines.  Upon successful completion of the ab-initio training and Airline Qualification Course, there are three ways that a CTC Wings Cadet pilot might enter into employment:

Cadet Entry

Upon successful completion of type rating training, the cadet will initially continue under sponsorship with Airline Placement Limited (APL - a subsidary of CTC Aviation Group plc) who will provide the cadet’s services to the airline as a First Officer.

During this initial 8 month line training experience the cadet will receive a subsistence allowance of approximately £1,200 per month, although this may vary by airline. The cadet is employed by the airline at the end of the 8 months line flying experience and APL transfers the security bond to the employing airline.

During employment, the cadet pilot receives a cadet entry salary from the airline, and in addition to this, repayment of the bond. Bond repayments made by the airline to the cadet are only made while the cadet is employed by that airline.

Repayments would cease if the cadet pilot left the airline.

CTC FlexiCrew

The pilot is contracted by CTC to fly for an airline and undertakes type rating training with CTC.   Depending on which airline  you are destined for, you may be required to make a contribution towards the cost of your type rating training.  This will vary from airline to airline, but as an example a contribution of approximately £9,360 (inc VAT) may be requested.  (The normal cost of a self-funded type rating would typically cost approximately £30,000 plus, so this contribution represents a significant saving).

Upon successful completion of type rating training, the pilot will initially continue under sponsorship with APL who will provide the pilot’s services to the airline as a First Officer.

During this initial 8 month line training experience the pilot will receive a subsistence allowance of approximately £1,200 per month, although this may vary by airline.

After completing this period of line flying experience and where there is a continued requirement for flying with an airline, the pilot is employed as a CTC FlexiCrew pilot by another CTC company, Airline Recruitment Limited (ARL), who in turn continues to provide the pilot’s services to the airline.

The CTC FlexiCrew pilot’s specific terms and conditions during employment are detailed at the time employment is offered.

Direct Entry

The cadet is employed by the airline and forfeits the bond held by APL. During employment, the pilot receives a Direct Entry Pilot salary from the airline.

If the airline has paid for the type rating training they will generally bond the pilot in the form of a “paper bond” over a specific number of years.

Generally the bond owed decreases pro-rata over the specified bond period. If the pilot leaves the airline before the end of that period, they will be required to pay the amount of bond outstanding to the airline.