Covid 19: Airline pilot now helping to make black cabs

With airlines collapsing, planes grounded and many foreign holidays still a pipedream, the coronavirus pandemic has decimated the travel industry. Here the people who made a living from people taking trips abroad tell how their lives have changed.

Sam Harvey had wanted to be a pilot since he was a schoolboy, but had no idea how he was going to fund the commercial flying dream that can cost in excess of £100,000.

After university, an engineering job and 10 years of intense saving, in 2018 he successfully applied to join a flight training school in Spain which was partially funded by Flybe.

"The stars aligned, and I thought, finally, I can realise my dream," he said. "I went to the training school and it was a wonderful experience."

He relocated to Flybe's Exeter headquarters the next year and gained his wings.

Only weeks into the job in early 2020, however, rumours started to spread about the airline's future.

"We didn't really think much of it, because in the aviation industry there's always rumblings and something to ruin the day and then unfortunately, we got back from Paris on 4 March and those rumblings became national news. So we soon realised there was some truth.

"Later that night we watched it slowly go out of business. It was quite gutting.

"But I thought, now we've passed our exams, I can get a job somewhere else. Little did we know just how much Covid was starting to take hold.

"It was the perfect storm."

Sam was out of a job within weeks.

He went from "the high after passing line training with Flybe - flying and seeing children going to Disneyland and the smiles on their faces" to applying for 30-40 jobs and getting nowhere.

He moved to Burton upon Trent to live with fiancée Katherine, which he said was "one of the positives to come out of all this".

He ended up taking a minimum paid job working in a warehouse moving pallets, but soon received a call from a friend telling him about an engineering job at the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) in Coventry which makes black cabs. He landed the role and continues to work there today.

"It doesn't give me the same buzz as flying but nothing ever will. One day I would like to fly again but for now my focus is with LEVC."

Despite not being able to fly for over a year now he has "no regrets".

"I spent £90k - I don't regret it. At the end of the day, I did achieve my dream, albeit briefly, but the finances of becoming a pilot are incredible.

"We have to remember that Covid has affected a lot of people and a lot of people have died and that is far worse than a guy like me, wanting to go and fly a plane - which is nothing really in comparison."

Sam Jackson has flown across the world as British Airways cabin crew for 27 years, working her way up the ranks as inflight lead.

She's certainly no "trolley dolly" - to some of her friends she's known as "Action Jackson" or "Swiss Army Sam" after starting her working life in the Territorial Army.

As flights were grounded in early 2020, she wasted no time in taking on numerous unpaid roles.

She's donned her flight uniform as a volunteer at Solihull Hospital under Project Wingman, which offers NHS staff a first class lounge experience by furloughed/ex-aviation workers during the pandemic but within a hospital - as well as giving her time as a first responder, and a special constable for Warwickshire Police.

The single mum-of-two said volunteering and working have kept her mentally strong.

"My only alternative was to go to work and do something - and I think that's why I pushed myself to do all the jobs I'm doing, to keep myself busy to stop myself becoming lonely, so I didn't struggle."

Sam, who works for British Airways part-time, was put on furlough in February. As well as her volunteering roles, she has carried out Covid-19 research on behalf of ONS and worked as a barista in Morrisons, putting her loudspeaker skills to good use.

"Customers used to say to me, 'oh it just sounded like we were on an aircraft just then', but I really enjoyed it and being around people. And I do love coffee too."

Sam is now working for West Midlands Ambulance Service transporting patients across the region, something that she really thrives on and puts down her experience of volunteering as a first responder for the past 16 years as vital to helping her on this path.

"Financially I'm thankful I have the wealth of skills I have so I could find some temporary alternative employment - without that I could've quite easily lost my house, my home and livelihood," said the 52-year-old.

Will Sam return to the BA runway at Heathrow?

"I could've taken voluntary redundancy last year when it was offered, but I don't feel that that my time is finished, I love flying. It's all I've ever done and known. It's part of me.

"I think people do want to go on holiday, people want to travel, they've been restricted for far too long now, and I think people want to get out and about. I'm so looking forward to going back flying, seeing new destinations and seeing my colleagues."

Stuart Skyrme loves the sunshine - so much so he decided to leave his life as a plumber in Hereford behind and work as a TUI holiday rep across Europe from sunny Spain to ski resorts for the past five years.

But at the age of 54, Stuart found himself homeless when he was forced back to the UK in March 2020 while working on the mountainous ski slopes of Seefeld, Austria, after lockdown was introduced.

"I was on one of the last flights back to the UK. I flew back into Bristol and thought 'where do I go to'?"

Stuart, who had all of his belongings in two bags, headed to Hereford where he grew up and lived for 20 years.

He stayed in a hotel for one night - and a friend stepped in to help after a shout-out on Facebook, offering him a room to rent.

Stuart got a job as a delivery driver at Tesco, things got back to normal "but well, we're still waiting, aren't we?" he said.

"It's been really, really tough. I miss working for TUI - the lifestyle - it suits me down to the ground. I started working as a holiday rep late on and it was perfect. I was living the dream, after a few tough years before that."

Though Stuart says his life abroad was basic, he was content and happy with simple pleasures.

"I would get up, have breakfast on the beach, go to work, have my lunch at the beach, be in the sunshine and have a swim. It was fantastic.

"The lifestyle just makes me smile just thinking about it.

"You aren't paid a massive amount. You do it because you love the job."

Craig Musson's career in aviation has spanned over 30 years, working for British Midland, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, American Airlines, Qatar Airways and more recently BMI and Finnair as an account manager in corporate sales.

In November he was made redundant, as flights fell to as low as 5% on the previous years' traffic.

"I absolutely loved my job but at the end of the day, if you're not flying, my role wasn't needed. The airline isn't a charity. I would sooner see the airline survive than pay me for doing very little. I've been affected but it wasn't right to be kept on."

Following years of working across the UK and flying around the world - Craig says he had no hesitation in finding work closer to home.

The 47-year-old got a job in a warehouse packing boxes for Sainsburys and Boots ahead of Christmas - and now leads a team as a centre manager at a lateral flow testing centre in Leicestershire.

"It's not a job I thought I'd be doing, but these are times where I need to earn money and support my family.

"It's not glamorous - there's certainly no flying, but most of all, I just miss wearing a shirt and tie. I have 20 suits and they are just sat in the wardrobe gathering dust."

He is hopeful for the future of aviation.

"There is no recruitment drive by anyone in aviation yet because nobody knows where it stands," he said.

"At the start of all this, I said, as long as we, my family, all come out of this alive then we have won the lottery.

"We've had our vaccinations and we're alive. If I'd have kept my job it would've been off the scale but I've still won and I truly mean that."

Do you work in the travel industry? What's been your experience over the past 18 months?

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