Hi guys, I think that it was goig to happen sooner or later. FLS don't seem to learn that in the Aerospace industry when you are buying a maintenance facility you don't buy one that is going down the toilet for the wrong reasons. When they bought Dan Air Engineering they got a diamond for the price of a pearl & they managed to balls that up by choosing Stansted instead of Gatwick as their base. The Diamond hangar historically never made any money before FLS bought it and they had to force customers from lasham to use it when they eventually finished the long drawn out layoff of the majority of the Lasham & Gatwick staff. Even then they were in trouble by the very methods of employment that they used that incensed contractors so much, ie. "oh yeah you can do an hour on this job to finish it then ****** off til 4.30 when I'll find you another job, by the way you won't be getting paid!" Dan Air weren't the only one's to feel FLS's grasp either as the boy's at Loveaux, Bournemouth know,well and truly sold down the river they were! When they bought out team and I started to see for my own eyes how badly a B checks end results could be when carried out by people with no interest in their job then I knew that yet again the writing was going to be on the the wall for FLS Aerosace UK. I was in Manchester & I talked to Birger Riisager along time ago when FLS still had Dan Air engineers working for them and he had just taken over. He told me then that the parent company was working for a long term plan but it was expecting to be making a profit after 5 years. Guess what happens when you make a !!!!! purchase with a bad rep? Yep down goes your profits. Virgin Atlantic saw the light pretty damn quick & pulled out of team, who else went too? Do they still get help from Europe?
I'm sorry to tell you guy's this, cos it's going to mean more job's (by the way there's been more than a few gone at LGW recently too) but I really believed Birger when I talked to him, He's a no nonsense guy & I know he's not the man, but he knew what the parent company's plans were & more than likely still are, so if you'll take my advice guys. Start looking for a new employer & get ready for a pretty pissy redundancy cheque.
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So many brake packs, so little time. (:¬(