Scroggs, me old, is that situation likely to persist for the foreseeable? BA appear to be up the proverbial waterway in this department, with no light at the end of the tunnel. I believe this could be a major factor putting people off BA, hence their 'shortage'. 7 yrs to command is fairly good in the grand scheme and makes VS alot more attractive overall. Any thoughts?
Commands are a function of two things: retirements and expansion. Virgin has relatively few retirements as most captains are in their 40s, but is expanding at about 10% per year. At the moment, that means command in 7/8 years, though there is no guarantee that this figure will remain valid. If expansion stopped tomorrow, command would go out to 15 years or more. BA, on the other hand, has not been expanding - in fact, quite the opposite - and thus commands are currently between 17 and 23 years, according to those in the know. Any move to restart expanding the airline will have an effect on these numbers, but any expansion at BA will be relatively small as a proportion of the size of the airline, and so you would not expect command to come much less than, say 13-14 years. The forthcoming anti-ageist legislation due to take effect in 2006 will mean that BA captains currently slated to retire at 55 will be eligible to continue to 60, and so progresiion to command will be slowed further. Virgin's retirement age for captains is already 60, and pilots can currently return to the RHS until 65.
Are allowances/flight pay taxable? As I understand it Virgin give you a wad of cash downroute for allowances, whereas BA give you it in your paypacket. Does this affect the tax situation?
Allowances are not taxable. They are paid down route to be spent down route. This has been thrashed out with the Inland Revenue, and will remain the case. There is some reason to believe that BA and others may have to go to a similar system. Flight pay (pay per hour flown), on the other hand, is both taxable and pensionable.
I heard that at the moment Virgin is only considering applications from people with time on 330 or 340. Has anyone with only time on the 320 been successful in getting a job with them?
We have recruited several ex-A320 drivers. We have also taken a few people who are not qualified on any of our types (such as, but not restricted to, ex-military pilots).