But six weeks into his new job, coronavirus wreaked havoc on the aviation industry, with entire fleets of planes grounded by the lockdowns.

“Before we knew it, I was made redundant for a second time,” says Mr Bailey. “But this time it was obviously more serious because there were no other jobs available.

“We had to return to the UK, but we had nowhere to go. It was a stressful situation.”

Mr Bailey was let go by Emirates in May last year. He and his wife had to find their daughter a secondary school back in the UK, and then look for a house nearby.

“We bought a house over the phone from Dubai – we had no other options. We flew back to the UK, and put stuff back in a shipping container in Dubai,” he says.

Mr Bailey applied for jobs as a warehouse operative and delivery driver, but didn’t hear back from any of the companies.

He suggests that it is difficult for a former pilot to get on the bottom rung of the ladder in a different industry, as employers think he or she is overqualified. And he adds that it is equally tough to get a job higher up the ladder because firms are wary that pilots are not interested in doing the job long term.

However, Mr Bailey, who now lives in Lancashire, did finally manage to find new employment. In October he got a job at a Covid-19 testing site run by security company G4S. Just one month later he was promoted to become a manager at the firm.