A Swiss flight training academy has taken the interesting stance of offering its customers a zero training delay guarantee. AELO Swiss Academy, part of the Aero Locarno Group, which operates flight training bases in Switzerland and Italy, has confirmed that it is offering a ‘Zero Delay Guarantee’ for cadets enrolled on commercial pilot training programmes with the academy.
“If you do not complete your training in 16 months, you will receive €1,000 for every 10-day delay until you obtain your licence,” says AELO. “Some flight schools chose to compete with each other to quote the lowest priced course in the shortest amount of time in a race to the bottom.
“Many students who chase these offers experience extreme frustration with the unbudgeted extra costs for each additional month to complete their training.”
“AELO takes a completely opposite approach. We want to make sure pilots get all the time and attention they need to complete the course so they have mastered their craft. If for some reason they have missed our targeted pace of learning, we take responsibility for that. Instead of paying us for more time at our academy like other schools, we take responsibility and pay you for every 10 days your training has been delayed.”
With factors such as weather delays, aircraft maintenance issues, staff illness, etc, which every flight school is at one time or another subject to, the initiative clearly represents an interesting challenge for the academy, but is also clearly one that the company aims to live up to.
Formed in 1985, the academy offers a ‘white-tail’ fATPL training programme and an MPL training programme in partnership with SkyAlps Airlines. The school’s fleet of 14 aircraft comprises the S201 Sonaca, Tecnam P2008, DA40 Diamond Star, DA42 Twin Star, and the Extra 200, complemented by a Boeing 737 NG Simulator from MPS. The school reports that 100% of its graduates over the last two years have secured jobs with airlines.
