A good number of BA pilots have come from an RAF background and many quickly gain the skills necessary to become a commercial pilot, according to a British Airways spokesperson.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed this week that the RAF is to almost halve the number of trainee pilots and introduce a recruitment freeze due to defence cuts.

A BA spokesperson told Recruiter: “We have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the RAF and good numbers of our pilots have come from that background.

“At the moment we are recruiting what we call Direct Entry Pilots and they have to have commercial jet experience and a relevant licence to fly our types of aircraft. Most of these pilots come from smaller airlines, with pilots looking to make a step up in their career path.

“The former RAF pilots, which we recruit at suitable times in our recruitment cycle, undertake the relevant conversion courses so that they can fly commercial airliners. Due to their previous skill levels we find that most of them show the sort of attributes we are looking for in commercial pilots very quickly.

“We hope to extend our recruitment programme during 2011 and 2012 and expect this to include a wide range of backgrounds from people with fairly limited flying experience with a real passion for a career in commercial aviation through to very experienced pilots looking for a change of company.”