Originally Posted by
27/09
ElZilcho
Spoken like a true Air NZ jet fleet pilot.
From what I heard a while back most of the crewing expansion at Mt Cook was provided by the guys who lost their jobs at Eagle.
Yep, those Air NZ Jets are so much more difficult to fly than say those of Jetstar and Virgin, operators that don't require pilots to have previous jet experience.
Yep, thats right, the 120 Eagle pilots supplied "most" of those THREE HUNDRED expansion slots - seems legit....
And aren't you lucky that Air NZs requirement that "outside" (read, disloyal) pilots need to have jet experience already skews
interview selection in the favour of regional pilots....(but nice effort in trying to imply that an Air NZ company hiring policy is anything to do with current "jet" pilots suggesting that "their" jet job is more difficult than Jetstar or Virgin).
InZed be cautious around "MORE A321s", it means that they have converted some 320D options to 321Ds, it doesn't mean that 7 MORE A320 family aircraft than originally planned are coming - it doesn't represent an increase in numbers...yet. From 30 to 42 in five years is extremely optimistic, the 13 aircraft on order currently are replacements, not expansion - the only growth will be in lease aircraft that may or may not be kept.
KiwiAvi8er, "If the current recruitment model was in the interests of link pilots...", I ask you - why should the recruitment model be just in the interests of link pilots? What special thing has a "Link" pilot done to usurp the rights of all other New Zealand pilots, and all other NZALPA pilots? Before you shout "loyalty", remember entire generations of Eagle pilots joined with just one airline in mind - Cathay. That you are employed by the largest employer in NZ doesn't guarantee loyalty, just that the odds on being hired by them was already far better than even. Unless you specifically turned down Air Nelson for just Mt Cook, or Eagle for Air Nelson (and some might in that case!), or to make the point more clearly, didn't take that GBA job because you only wanted the mighty Aztec gig at Mountain Air, then I'd suggest you just took the first job offered - like most of us did. If Link weren't hiring at the time you joined, are we to believe you wouldn't have taken an Origin, or Air Chats gig on offer and stuck with GA for many more years at $10/hr? Such is the nebulous nature of "loyalty". You may have been loyal, it doesn't mean that those employed elsewhere are
disloyal.
"The failed interview as a reason to oppose a GOP list is also a misnomer, you can have a GOP list with criteria to be met before a move to jet..."
We have one, it's called an
interview. Isn't what you're advocating here just an interview in seniority order? Is this what is being achieved right now by way of the 70:30 process? It's a "misnomer" to suggest that the
only way to achieve this is through a GOP list.
"One or two of the pilots
I've seen in the last 2-3 years has opened
my eyes...." (My bolding)
We all probably have an account similar to this, the first thing this highlights about all of us is how good we think we are at spotting things that the experts don't (Dunning-Kruger perhaps?), the second is that the proof is in the pudding. Out of 1050 "jet" pilots (FYI, nobody at AirNZ "jet" calls themselves this), there are very few bad eggs - perhaps, by and large the process works? All of this ignores the fact that the big issue everyone seems to have is with the
selection of interviewees -
clearly an HR function (with a little bit of "help" from the affected link management).
"It just shuts the option of them upping sticks, joining an Aussie jet operator whilst leaving (the) Links with a
manpower shortage then
bypassing everyone for an interview back across because Link pilots are
being held back from interview due to a manpower shortage. Thats in the company and majority of regional pilots interests".
"
Manpower shortage" has been coming for some time, it starts well below Link level, and was rather well hidden by the GFC - the time to act was then, now that its here, the fix is to throw money at it, not turn it into a cost-saving exercise during record profits and supply side shortage. Furthermore, whilst being selected in seniority order may suit you at the top of the command list and stem the exodus from the left seat, any very junior F/O, even ignoring any potential cadet S/Os, may well think 10-12 years to a "jet" job too long, not enough of a return on their investment, and "up-sticks" anyway. Hooray! We've just moved the shortage to the right seat - and by extension, the left seat years down the track. That is not in the company's interest.
"...
bypassing" assumes it was a particular persons position in the first place and smacks of self-interest. There is nothing necessarily wrong with self-interest, just be aware of the possibility that your self-interest may different to other's self-interest. Along those lines, you will have seen the communication put out by Link project leads about a small cadre of senior Link pilots rumoured to be interested in making a play for jet commands once lists are joined - can you see why "jet" pilot self-interest may be different to theirs? And that theirs (if true) show very little regard for yours. I'd suggest that rumour alone is responsible for the lukewarm reception the GOP is now getting, perhaps you could start there?
"...
being held back" is wholly in the control of HR and Link management.
Brakerider, "Wasn't that long ago that those 320s were flown by somebody else either..."
That'd be SIX aircraft right? Not 30. And they didn't have interviews either....
Overwhelmingly, I'm astounded by the implication that the "jet" guys are trying to pull the ladder up after them (out of self-interest, though no one can say what the motivation might be - we're "grand-personed" remember?), but the possibility that the intentions of previously failed interviewees, candidates that couldn't compete against overseas kiwi passport-holders CV or overlooked, extremely senior Link guys are entirely pure. This project, by and large, is being presented as a package - not all of the component pieces can be implemented in isolation - it requires "jet" guys and girls to concede some of their conditions for
you, it may be worth the price, it may not (most of us agree in principle with the concepts), but at least be polite.