Pilot Training – This is how we were able to bring down the price of professional pilot training

We trained professional pilots in Finland from start to finish up until the early 2000s

Early in the ongoing millennium, we still provided an entire flight training program at our company’s site at Malmi Airport to people aspiring to become professional pilots. We had multiengine aircraft at our disposal to provide training for multiengine and instrument ratings and to operate air taxi flights. However, due to amendments in aviation regulations, our operating expenses increased to an unsustainable level, and so we decided to give up the aforementioned operations and focus on training private pilots.

Prices of pilot training soared sky high

After the change, all we could do is stand by and watch how people aspiring to become airline pilots had to pay fees exceeding 120,000 euros to private flight schools for their training, unless they were accepted to the Finnish Aviation Academy, the state-owned school which offers the training for a lower price but only to a very limited number of people chosen among the thousands of applicants.

How could we bring down the price of pilot training?

During our 50 years in the industry, we have learned to run our business cost-efficiently. We decided to try and do what we can to help as many people as possible fulfill their dream of a career as a pilot. To coin the emblematic marketing slogan of a home electronics retail chain: “It is simply stupid to pay too much.”

Modular training package generated substantial savings

We compiled a modular training package, of which approx. 90% is carried out in Finland, with the exception of the expensive parts, i.e. the multiengine and instrument ratings and the commercial pilot license training. The latter components of pilot training we were able to acquire at a substantially lower price from a Polish flight school, with which we have cooperated for the past eight years. Of the entire training that takes altogether 1.5-2 years, the time spent in Poland accounts for a total of about 6-10 weeks, depending on the circumstances. Therefore, the students are not away long enough to become homesick while at the same time they gain valuable international flying experience. To read more about the training, go to the To become an airline pilot page.

The end result was a competitively priced pilot training package that you can complete alongside your work

This way we were able to reduce the price of pilot training to the average European level. You don’t need to go to what might superficially appear an “affordable” foreign flight school all by yourself – while there, the expenses could climb to a surprisingly high level without you even noticing. With us, your training progress is continuously monitored, and the responsible flight school is BF-Lento Oy, Finland’s oldest flight school continuously in operation since 1969. Once you have completed the training, you will have precisely the same qualifications as provided by a pilot’s professional degree completed entirely in Finland, but at only a fraction of its price. The theory studies completed to a large part through distance learning allow you to participate in the training alongside your work. What’s more, taking the training alongside your work may enhance your access to credit, should you need external financing for your studies.

Would you like to know more about pilot training?