Well, it's obvious isn't it? The aiirline basically wants the pilots to subsidise it's profitability. It is more concerened about whether the company is good value for the investors it is slave to, rather than the pilots who break their backs every day to make it a good airline and keep the wheels from falling off.
A summary of our position, for the unititiated:
Approximately 140 pilots have left this year;the pilot recruiting market is red hot and this trend should continue next year;
They are taking a lot of new aircraft (35 A319's?) next year so expansion continues;
Pilot training costs are down as all new pilots are self funded via TRSS or the Cadet scheme;
Our terms and conditions have been allowed to slip well behind our competitors. Who is going to retire on 7% pension?;
The price of oil is slowly falling and affected all airlines equally (depending on hedging, etc);
Pilot productivity is up around 14%; heart attacks up 20%;
The company announced excellent profits and gave the management the usual raft of shares, ours were worth nothing;
Despite being in the flight deck almost 12 hours every day, they still want to remove company-provided crew food, and the loyalty bonus (which is ironic in itself since any loyalty shown is already one-way!!)
Pilot costs at 13% are already significantly lower than all other airlines.
We went through this 5 years ago, and as usual didn't learn a damn thing.The pay went up about 30% and they had to recruit offereing shares and golden handshakes.
Just maybe it is a revenue problem, not a cost problem. Maybe we don't charge enough for landing people in town rather than the boonies like RYR. How much is it worth to save an hour or more of somebody's day??
Lastly, if you read the other posts on this forum, easyJet is by far a pleasant place to work. Pilots are brought on to the office or suspended at will, often for trifling reasons and the Commanders authority is fifth behind commercial pressures. Even using sick or unfit pilots is not out of the question. While a pay rise will not fix an inherent attitude, maybe after we go on strike for, say, a few days, they may take us a bit more seriously.
One final thought: In the beginning we were modelled heavily on Southwest Ailrines whom Stelios flew with extensively then adapted the low-cost operation for Europe. They have 4000 pilots and lose about 2 a year, make far better profits than we ever will do, and treat their staff like gold. I know, having seen it myself. Two legacy carriers in Chapter 11 this last few months alone, but a funny little airline from Dallas who puts its staff before anything now has 400 aircraft and people who work for them would die before going anywhere else (their words). Am i getting through????
Last edited by Colonel Klink; 8th Dec 2005 at 08:05.