152wiseguy: Regarding base swaps, that effectively happens at the moment. The Transfer List does just that automatically. Someone who wants to leave a particular base is moved on as soon as a vacancy at their chosen base appears.
As Kraut has said, the latest missive from the management indicates a subtle change of policy in terms of our new base at Madrid and indeed at future bases as they open. There is nothing commerically sensitive about the plan and I have therefore listed the basic changes as published:
· We will open up the waiting lists for internal transfers 7 days after the announcement is made – 31st August (normal application process on crew e-mail through their base captain) and we will review the lists after a further 14 days has passed – 14th September (ie 21 days from announcement) to allow anyone who may have been on leave to be able to bid. The bids will not follow a first come first served basis so all applications within the 14 day window from 31st July will be considered.
· A pilot may bid to move to a new base whilst remaining on an existing transfer list (normally a pilot may only be on one list at a time but this would be an appropriate exception).
· If the base is oversubscribed for internal transfers, we list the captains and first officers in two lists in descending date of joining order and select from the top of the list first.
· We must have the ability to man 1/3rd of the base (normally one aircraft out of 3) from external/new recruits who are recruited locally and who will go straight into the base on joining.
· We must be careful if we are oversubscribed internally not to take too many pilots from any single existing base (especially where this would require those transferring pilots to complete type conversions – the example might be a significant number of LTN-based 737 crews requesting to transfer to a new A319 base). We would aim to use the date of joining order if oversubscribed unless to do so would expose us to a clear operational risk at any single base. In this event, we would allow the individuals the ability to convert and transfer at the earliest possible opportunity without damage to the Business. Pilots who requested transfers but require conversion would be bonded in accordance with the extant bonding policies.
· We can enforce the 3 year fleet freeze to any full conversion pilot who joined after Jan 2004 although we may reduce this timescale as we have done in many cases recently.
As a little aside, following our very difficult summer caused by insufficient crews, our CEO Andy Harrison has written to all staff saying that they will receive shares worth 2 weeks salary as a big 'thank you' for their efforts. Max value £3000 and min value £600, the shares become yours after 3 years if you stay with the company. This is good news, and yet another sign that we at last have a CEO who really wants to get the best from his people.