Jobless pilots to work for free

Leading with the somewhat long front-page headline “Glut of pilots on the market may cause some to work for free,”Lidové Noviny reports that the economic crisis has forced airlines to lay off large numbers of staff, including pilots. For the first time in aviation history, this has resulted in a surplus of pilots on the Central European job market. 80 were made redundant when the low-cost airline SkyEurope declared bankruptcy, and 100 of their colleagues working for the Czech national carrier Czech Airlines will shortly find themselves in a similar situation, now that company staff have refused to accept a management proposal to reduce salaries. Given that airlines are no longer hiring, certain pilots are seriously considering offering their services for free. “If they do not want to give up their licenses, all pilots are obliged to fly for a minimum of three hours every 90 days,” reports the Prague daily.