Don't know anything about the contract pilots except that they're only expecting them to last to the end of this summer. Who knows whether they will or not?
From the perm side it's not a bad place I guess. What can I say? It's an unglamorous low cost airline with no frills for you or the pax! Nice people, good friendly mgmt pilots and crewing. Time to command about 3000hrs. Strong demand for Cpts right now. Most F/O's taken on lately have been ab-initio so you'd probably have a good chance of command upgrade if you have the hours.
F/Os take home about 2600pm and Cpts about 3500 so it's not the best payer. However, only about 650-700 flying hrs a year, not too many 4 sector days. 90hrs month peak summer, 50hrs month in darkest winter but it's growing and changing so who knows what next year will bring?
You get tea, coffee, water, uniforms, medicals. licences on the company but bring your own food now. No medical or loss of licence cover for F/Os. Staff travel policy is pretty lame and you now have to take the train or your own car to get between LBA and MAN if they need you at the other base for a spell.
Frequent roster changes but they try to be flexible and helpful if you need something so I guess that swings both ways.
The fleets getting a little tired so the MEL will become your new best friend.
If you get a choice, I'd go for LBA over MAN. 2 mins from car to crew room and LBA's doing well financially whereas MAN is just starting up so possibly less secure / more chaotic.