KLM Flight Academy in Eelde escapes 5,000 job cuts

KLM is cutting 5,000 jobs in a reorganisation meant to save costs. The cuts fall at KLM and its subsidiaries near Schiphol, not at the pilot school in Eelde, says Mark Gerritsen, head of training at KLM Flight Academy Eelde.

The academy will go on training 80 pilots a year, and its staff keep their jobs. “We will keep training eighty pilots a year,” Gerritsen says. “The number of pilots stays the same and the people who work here keep working here.”

KLM chief executive Marjan Rintel said in a statement that “KLM's survival is not a given”. She added: “The conditions we operate in are getting ever more complex: unrest in the world, high fuel prices and pressure on aviation.”

Pilots trained in Eelde always join KLM after graduating. Eighty a year is not enough for the airline, so it also hires experienced pilots from other airlines.

That is where the cuts come in, according to Gerritsen. “If there are fewer pilots or fewer flights, fewer pilots will be brought in as well. So that's where cuts are being made.”