A pilot who lied about his flying experience and forged his CV in order to gain a job with British Airways has been sentenced to a year in prison.

Between April 2016 and March 2018, Craig Butfoy, 49, provided fraudulent information and changed logbook entries in order to get and keep work with British Airways subsidiary BA CityFlyer, headquartered at London City Airport, and defunct Irish regional carrier Stobart Air.

According to court documents, he fraudulently claimed to have flown 1,610 hours as a captain on a job application.

He was also accused of falsifying information on his CV, such as claiming to have held a private pilot’s licence since 1998, and fabricating papers, including a training course certificate.

Butfoy, of Matfield in Kent, was sentenced to a year in prison on Monday at Snaresbrook Crown Court after pleading guilty to four offences of fraud.

‘The Civil Aviation Authority’s prosecution and the punishment given illustrate that breaches of this sort are handled extremely seriously by the Civil Aviation Authority and the courts,’ said Jonathan Spence, general counsel of the Civil Aviation Authority.

From London City Airport, BA CityFlyer operates Embraer 190 aircraft to domestic and European destinations.

Stobart Air, a regional airline of Aer Lingus, went bankrupt in June of last year after falling into financial difficulties during the coronavirus outbreak.