Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A. (Iberia), a subsidiary of International Airlines Group (IAG) and headquartered in Madrid, Spain, has welcomed twenty new pilots to the European carrier, all of whom have been on the Iberia Cadetes programme at the Flight Training School in Jerez, Spain. They will officially join the carrier in July this year, with a further 20 more pilots expected to join Iberia in October after completing the same course.
The Iberia Cadetes programme was launched in 2019, but these first pilots to graduate had their transition to working for Iberia delayed as a direct consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The arrival of new pilots in Iberia is very good news, the best sign that we are flying towards recovery. In addition, our collaboration with FTEJerez through the Iberia Cadetes programme guarantees that we are getting the professionals with the best skills for the future of Iberia”, said Rafael Jiménez-Hoyos, Production Director at Iberia.
The recruitment of these new pilots is part of Iberia’s strategy to deal with the resurgence of post-pandemic air travel and the anticipated boom in summer air travel. The FTEJerez flight training school is the first to offer the Iberia Cadetes programme where the school and Iberia look to identify the most promising future pilots and help them to achieve their goals. To facilitate these trainee pilots, Iberia provides interest-free loans that will cover half of the cost of the training programme, and which can then be paid off once they have qualified and begun working with Iberia.
