Ryanairpilot, one of my concerns with charter was the number of night flights. The reality is at least in our charter company we do very few winter night flights and say on average two/three a month in the summer (although the trend seems to be for less). As a union agreement we are allowed a maximum of two night flights in a row and 90 hours in 28 days, 900 hours a year. My roster is fairly stable and a vast improvement on previous companies although I work more weekends.
One big disadvantage of my employer is time to command that is really anyone’s guess, but at least ten years plus from joining (all seniority based) is my guess. To try to help compensate for this we have pay increments each year and a pay bridge on transfer to left seat.
T&C's not now as good for new joiners (no final salary pension), but the ancillaries that you have to pay for in Ryanair do add up. On saying the above you would undoubtedly at least on face value as a skipper be better off financially at Ryanair than one of our FO's but the hassle and lack of support is another thing.
In some ways the fleet and basing also make a major difference to lifestyle and it is difficult once joined to change these in our company. One advantage that I did not really appreciate at first is that in the charter industry depending on fleet and basing there is a real variety of destinations and thus different approaches (and sometimes types) to fly that helps keep it fresh although some of them I could do without!
On balance, although I work for a good employer and am happy here, I would hesitate in recommending it to new joiners unless they were young and/or had low experience and were prepared to spend the majority of their career here. At present (since 2001) we have not been recruiting permanent staff but that will have to change soon.
Which companies to look at should be highly influenced by your age and thus you’re long term potential in your future employer.
