Austrian Airlines training in Vienna week 3 from a Graz trainee: the Embraer and A320 course, the Eastern Europe module and the Viennese classroom
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#1 Lucas, Graz, Austrian Airlines training in Vienna, week 3 of 7, and Max wrote Austrian from inside and nobody has written the course. Here it is from the middle of it.
The set up
Seven weeks at the Austrian training centre near Schwechat, 18 of us, mostly Austrian with four from the Eastern European language pool (a Hungarian, a Romanian, two Czechs), ages 21 to 39. The Embraer and the A320 family first, the long haul types (777, 787) after a period on the line. Accommodation not provided; the Vienna commuters commute and the rest of us share flats in Schwechat and the 11th district.
Weeks 1 and 2
Induction, the group, the uniform, the aircraft, then SEP on the Embraer first because it is the regional workhorse. The exam at the end of week 2 at 90, as everywhere; one of 18 resat and passed. The Viennese classroom is the Lufthansa Group calm with the Austrian humour: the trainers are strict on time and dry about everything else.
Week 3
The A320 family SEP and the fire rig, which is the same fire rig every training thread describes and which was exactly as frightening and then exactly as fine. The pool is week 4. The first aid is week 5. The service and the Austrian specific module are weeks 6 and 7.
The Eastern Europe module
The thing that is Austrian's: a block on the eastern network, the passengers, the languages in the cabin, the Balkan and Caucasus specifics, and the cultural notes the airline has built over decades of being the gateway to the east. The Hungarian and the Czechs on the course are the stars of it. The Austrians learn it.
What surprised me
The volume, as every training thread says and I did not believe. The flashcards from day one, which the Munich threads advised and which I did. The commute from Graz is not possible on this course and I am in a flat in Schwechat with a Czech trainee who tests me on the Embraer doors in two languages.
For the Austrian applicants
German fluent, the Eastern European language a real advantage, the Vienna flat sorted before week 1, the flashcards from day one. The course is friendly and hard, as the Kiwi one was described, with the Viennese version of friendly.
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#2 Austrian Vienna, and the Eastern Europe module is the thing I would have mentioned if I had written the course. The Hungarian and the Czechs being the stars of it is every Austrian course. Welcome to the airline, Lucas.
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#3 Prague, and the Czech trainee testing you on the Embraer doors in two languages is the Austrian course in one image. The Czechs at Austrian are the eastern experts and proud of it.
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#4 Lufthansa Munich, and the Lufthansa Group calm with the Austrian humour is the exact description the Munich crew give the Vienna crew room. Dry about everything except time.
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#5 Wizz Budapest, and the Hungarian on your course is probably someone I know. The Vienna to Budapest flight is 40 minutes and the Hungarian crew at Austrian are a small, proud group.
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#6 Trainer, Rio, and 'the fire rig was exactly as frightening and then exactly as fine' is every trainee's fire week in one sentence. The flashcards from day one is why you will pass.
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#7 Hamburg, and Austrian is now the fourth application and this course description is the reason: the eastern module, the Vienna flat, the friendly and hard. Good luck with the pool.