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France 24
France 24
Politics

Grounded: Pilots' wings clipped by Covid-19 pandemic

Unable to fly, trainee pilots risk losing everything they've put into their future career. Some airlines allow trainees to fly their planes in exchange for a hefty sum. © France 2

Air transport has been hit extremely hard by the Covid-19 crisis and the sector is only expected to regain its pre-pandemic level by 2024 at the earliest. So what's happening to the thousands of pilots who are now out of a job? Some have moved over to lower-paying airlines, while others have the option of being allowed to fly, but in exchange for a hefty sum. Others have resigned themselves to changing career: in Switzerland, pilots can retrain to become train drivers. Our colleagues from France 2 report, with FRANCE 24's James Vasina.

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