A colleague in EI tells me that they are short 27 Capts and 26 FOS to fly the A330 line from April 2007. There are some yawning gaps in roster cover in Aug and Sep 06 but they hope to bend or ignore IAA on this problem. They will be looking for type rated or easy conversion guys for these positions. Airbus type rating training is very difficult to buy right now.
For the smaller Airbus - partic A321 they are looking for 24 Capts and 31 FOs to cover deliveries, retirements and ongoing shortages. They may hire more in Nov.
They called back the last of the cadets on Thursday who they had previously dumped. They mostly got letters on Thursday last and many of them are with Ryanair. They are all expected to come straight back.
A friend's son is one of the Cadets at Ryanair who is jumping back to EI. My friend pleaded with his son to stay at FR where he was due to get his command soon. But the young fella has dreams of wearing the Shamrock and swanning around JFK. I wonder who will be first to get dumped in the future when Aer Lingus hits a rocky patch!
As someone who used to work for Aer Lingus and is a happy pensioner I think the new pay deal and extra pension for me is great - but commercial suicide. While Willie took the hard decisions - it seems DM is giving away the shop to the unions ahead of an Irish election.
Regretfully I would have to back Ryanair every time to beat the bejaysus out of EI in Dublin.
Last edited by thebrother; 2nd Jul 2006 at 07:13.