Just to put the record straight about VLM, from someone I know very well, & who is, as you say, on the inside....
So far this year they have lost approximately 15 pilots. Out of the eight F.O.s that they employ at Manchester they have lost two of their most senior, i.e one quarter of the base F.O.s. RS continues to insist that he is inundated with applications from suitably qualified Fokker 50 drivers; he's lying. One guy that joined them from an ex Danish Fokker 50 operator is (or was) so poor that after a total of something like 250 hours of line training, both with his previous airline & VLM, he still wasn't competant enough to pass his line check!
Yes, they have employed some ex KLC crew, &, yes they have started some new guys with very little total time, so great news for them. The shame is that this should have been for expansion with the advent of the LPL/LCY route but all that VLM is doing now is plugging holes where the experienced guys leave. Remeber that this airline's main route is into a challenging airport like LCY so they really can't afford to lose the experienced guys in one go like this.
So why are people leaving VLM? Well if you are a British crew member based in the UK with a VLM contract then you can expect to be treated as a second class citizen. You will have no rostering agreement, & under stupid Belgian flight time limitations this means that you can expect to work up to 11 days on the trot with as many early starts as they choose. You will need to get used to being constantly fatigued! Afterwards you may just get three days off if you are lucky. Put in a request day & watch it get rejected or have a leave day used for it. Talking of leave, they give you just one day off with your leave requests so your annual entitlement doesn't go too far at VLM. Then, just to add insult to injury, watch your European colleagues come to be based alongside you & constantly have five days off in a row, finish on an early shift, come back on a late shift, have days off alongside their leave allocation, receive hotel accommodation while your in a B&B at your own expense, & then get a far better pay rise for being with VLM for less time than you! When you approach RS listen to his empty promises of better thing to come & wait...& wait...& wait.
Can't think for the life of me why VLM are are struggling to keep crew!
