Trainee pilots with as little as 200 hours of experience are flying Qantas Airways' budget airline Jetstar, according to the pilots' association.

The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) said today Jetstar is setting a worrying precedent for Australian aviation standards by signing four Australian cadet pilots to contracts effectively worth AU$47,100 per annum, with no possible pay rise for six years.

The four Australian cadets, who signed the common law contracts, made headlines earlier this year when it was revealed they had been sent by Jetstar across the Tasman in order to open New Zealand bank accounts and apply for New Zealand tax file numbers. Jetstar's intention at that stage was to pay the pilots in NZ dollars.

Following public exposure of that plan, Jetstar reconsidered and has now signed the cadet pilots to Australian common law contracts worth AU$57,600 a year.

Under the contracts, the pilots must also pay back the cost of their training at a rate of AU$10,500 a year for a period of six years. If they exit the contract in the first six years they must pay back the full cost of training, plus an extra punitive charge of AU$10,000.

Trainees under the program are currently co-piloting Airbus A320s between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Most are unable to legally fly to New Zealand, where the requirement for commercial pilots is 500 hours of experience.

AIPA Vice President Captain Richard Woodward said Australian pilots have deep concerns about recruitment outside the Jetstar agreement.

"By working around the Enterprise Agreement, Jetstar is racing down an extremely worrying path," he said.

"The public demands that people who occupy certain positions of extreme responsibility feel relaxed, focused and secure in their employment."

"You don't want your heart surgeon to be a lowly-paid, highly-indebted junior, preoccupied with how to make ends meet. You certainly don't want your pilot to be in that category either."

"We have been lucky in this country to enjoy world-class standards of pilot professionalism. I couldn't be prouder to be an Australian pilot today, however if Jetstar continues to pay peanuts, how long before the cliche starts to apply?"

"Being effectively locked into a six year agreement on a low set wage with a significant chunk being bitten off to repay a mammoth training bill -this is not the sort of deal that's likely to attract our future best and brightest into commercial aviation."