Info!
Dear VS1711,
Allow me to bring some numbers into the discussion. I completely understand your view and find your contention valid. However, if you look at the airlines expenses as a pie chart you will find that the pilots make up appr. 8% of the total cost in the longhaul segment, and appr. 10-11% in the shorthaul segment. Looking at the situation this way I think that we are competitive with just about anybody. Do we make good money? Yes. And a good pension? Yes. But why don't we cost more then(in relation to other expense groups)??
Well, the structure of SAS is such that the individual companies have to buy their services(handling, technical) from suppliers WITHIN the group. These suppliers are nowhere as cheap as what is available on the free market. We also know that the original SAS(my employer) is charged, depending on the service, sometimes twice the price as say, Spainair or Blue1. This skews the picture and obviously makes us more expensive. So then we have to stop flying certain routes and then we have too many pilots.... You know where this is going!!
We are willing to give to the company. I have almost 9 years here and hope to have about another 15-20. Far longer than the current CEO and all his cronies. I, more than anybody, want to see this company make it. I depend on this company and so does my family. But I will not give up my pay, pension and benefits because we are being bled dry on purpose. By the way, The individual original SAS companies lease their planes from a unit within SAS. The lease prices are so high that we pay more for aircraft leasing than say Easyjet. And their planes are alot newer than ours. Where does the money go?
We will not go quietly.
Regards,
Ramrise