Following a tie-in with finance company Brain Capital, the European Flight Academy (EFA), Lufthansa Group’s flight school, is now able to offer frozen Air Transport Pilot Licence (fATPL) training programmes that only require a €10,000 payment contribution from cadets, regardless of individual financial circumstances.
According to EFA, once a candidate has secured a training contract with the academy, no other financial securities, such as guarantees by family members, are necessary to be eligible to gain financing from Brain Capital.
Instead of having to finance all their training costs, graduates from EFA’s flight training programmes will instead enter into an income share agreement whereby they pay back a fixed percentage of their income once they have taken up employment. In this context, EFA says that the specific, individual repayment amount is contingent upon the income level – the higher the salary, the higher the amount to be paid will be, and vice versa.
Following acceptance of training contract, cadets will need to pay €10,000 to the academy with the remaining €110,000 funded by Brain Capital. After completion of the training at EFA, regular payments to the sponsoring company will commence only once a yearly gross minimum income of €30,000 is reached.
Over the course of 11 years, former flight students will then pay a fixed percentage of their gross income to reimburse their training loan, which in the case of the maximum amount having been financed, amounts to 11 percent.
EFA adds that the payment amount is also capped: In relation to alternative financing via a traditional student loan, this financing model will not exceed an interest rate of 8 percent, provided the former student pilots accept a job with a Lufthansa Group airline. This means that the total financing costs are limited even if the former student has a very high income as a pilot.
Commenting on the new funding scheme, Raymund Obst, EFA Head of Pilot Schools said: “Flight school training is time-consuming and expensive. We know that only very few people can afford to pay for the training to become an airline transport pilot out of their own resources. At EFA, it is our goal that career prospects are not determined by the size of the parents’ wallet.
“Turning this goal into reality is facilitated to a great degree through the significantly improved financing model with our partner Brain Capital: Anyone who signed a training contract with us and has equity in the amount of €10,000 can start their dream of flying with us. In this way, we also contribute to diversity within the Lufthansa Group.”
The approx. 24-month course commences in Bremen or Zurich in Switzerland with theoretical knowledge training, followed by flight training either in Goodyear, USA or Grenchen, Switzerland. Cadets training in Goodyear will fly Cirrus SR20 training aircraft, while those heading to Grenchen will fly Diamond training aircraft.
EFA says that entry to the Lufthansa Group airline network is a key asset for EFA cadets, with graduates supported in applying to the Lufthansa Group after completion of the training and given priority access to jobs compared with applicants from other training backgrounds.
In other news from EFA, the company has confirmed that it has added three new DA-42NG-VI twin-engine trainers to its Bremen training fleet. The three aircraft were officially handed over to the flight school by the manufacturer as part of an induction event last month.
Commenting on the fleet expansion, Raymund Obst, Head of Pilot Schools EFA, said: “We are proud to be able to offer our students training on the latest state-of-the-art technology with these new aircraft. This is complemented by our decades of experience as a flight school of the Lufthansa Group with its unique connection to active airline operations.”
