There is an article in today’s Sunday Telegraph about very low salaries being offered by the new FlyBe and confidentiality agreements that do not allow discussions of the t&c. I hope that Balpa put a black on this company .Pilots joining Flybe claim they are being asked to agree to unusually aggressive confidentiality rules as a condition of their employment as the regional airline
prepares for a return to the skies.
Industry sources say new recruits have said that the carrier wants to prevent them from sharing information about working conditions with external parties, ahead of services restarting from Birmingham airport this spring.
They claim the restrictions are tighter than is normal for an airline.
Industry insiders also claimed that
Flybe is also offering captains salaries as low as £50,000 a year, with first officers starting on as little as £24,000. Captains at other low-cost airlines would typically command a salary of around £100,000.
Cabin crew at Ryanair
are paid up to £40,000-a-year, chief executive Michael O'Leary said last week.
Many pilots lost their jobs during the pandemic, as airlines cut their workforce in response to travel restrictions.
In recent weeks airline bosses have admitted to struggling to hire cabin crew. But finding pilots has not proven problematic, they said.
Martin Chalk, general secretary of the pilots union Balpa, said: “Pilots are key safety professionals who spend their entire careers seeking to turn the complex process of flying passengers, freight and mail to their destinations safely and efficiently.
“Over decades, by sharing information and collaborating with other aviation system professionals, pilots have contributed to the creation of the safest form of travel ever. Any airline who offers such restrictions as part of the employment of professional pilots has clearly failed to understand this, and will not go far in our industry.”
Flybe declined to comment.
Mayfair financier Lucien Farrell bought the assets of the collapsed airline from administrators two years ago.
His hedge fund was one of Flybe’s owners alongside Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic
when it collapsed in March 2020 after talks over a state-backed loan fell through.
While airlines are struggling to hire cabin crew as they step up operations, bosses have said that there are plenty of pilots available, giving them the upper hand in salary negotiations.