Well...Well...Welll....looks like "crunch time" is fast approaching.....the "court date" is on the 8th of this month, with an Executive/AGM meeting combined, a few days before, on the 6th Feb.!
Stating the obvious, morale is at an all time low,...the most "common" question on the flight deck these day is...."so, when are YOU leaving????"
Whether management is concerned or not is debatable, we in the "trenches" certainly have not heard a "peep"
Although they are very short of crew on the A340.....with most of those crew being rostered for close to 100 hours per month now,....the 767 crew have not yet been factored into the equasion......which then ofcourse changes the dynamics a bit.
The rumour doing the rounds is that the crewing of the 767`s will be "outsourced" to rated crews via a leasing company, whilst the Air Mauritius crew are re-trained onto the A340.....!With so many instructors having already voted with ther feet, it is going to put an enormous strain on this department, for sure!
Another rumour is that the ATR fleet/Operation may be given over to a private company like "KATO AIR" for example, as it is not a "profitable operation".......If operated by a "private organisation" though, it will have some kind of goverment subsidy, in which case THEY might be able to operate at a profit,...complicated, but do-able!
This then "frees-up" the ATR Crew for upgrade to the A319 or A340......so in the end, all part of the GRAND PLAN....and no "crew-shortage" after all!!!
Anyway, that was my sixpence worth, I hope at the end of the day something GOOD comes out of this DISPUTE....otherwise the DARK storm-clouds may just become darker!
