Well I guess it's time to unveil... Last year was the end for Avion and getting some good money. Moved to smartlynx recently to do part of the winter then Spring and summer, good salary all days off are being bought as they don't have pilots (I am AVERAGING +9K per month as senior FO) . Salary got stuck, management literally disregarding any kind of complaints from pilots flying 90-100 hours in Mexico, Vietnam and Chile FOR HALF THE SALARY because IT'S LOW SEASON AND THEY'RE NOT EARNING MONEY ( words from management) though... Keeping cabin crews with a nice salary, even more than FO'S with 70 hours and recently I've been told BH payment for LTC got from 40€ to 70€ as everyone was resigning ( I WONDER WHY????).
Few friends told me they were being asked to extend their rotations for free since december ( they try this at first instance) or giving them more days off or some sort, NO EXTRA SALARY because "they are not needed". Mexican pilots overtaking all the operations (half the fleet there so if last year they were 500 pilots for 55 aircraft and now they have the same with 25-30 in Mexico operated by viva pilots means...? Make your guess what will happen and why they tried to lower the salary way more than it should be with the "new roster option with more days off" and soon Brasil so their thought process is: we don't need to increase anything the more they leave the better hence the ongoing recruitment for first officers, way too many leaving again... I wonder why???
FO's specially were expecting a salary increase, I knew how they do things so I left the boat before it even started sinking. I've been told the whole winter were flying +80 hours for less than 4k GROSS ( again, less than cabin crews with same hours). If you want money go for lynx/dat/heston, you'll be treated equally as you may know, same dog different collar.
If you want to join to leave within 6 months, go ahead... around 50 of us including guys in crm/fdm etc left. They need you to Help them do the summer and get rid of you with the "winter salary" while flying the same hours.
My two cents is and yes, I am kind of pissed with the company though, no hard feelings. I was expecting my upgrade there but I guess I'll be better at easyjet soon, there are NO FAST TRACK I was quite high in seniority, FORGET THE FAST TRACK THEY ARE LURING YOU IT'S A LIE, there are guys with the hours waiting +2 years,do the maths, they need seniors FO's to fly with junior captains, for certain operations requiring hours and to have someone that has operated literally around the world as many captains haven't flown outside their area ( Last year in Gatwick was a mess... I wonder why BA didn't sign the contract with them again wink wink). Kids don't go with ACMIs they suck your life more than anything else.