Q4NVS, I don’t think its fair to name people in an open forum therefore I will refrain from doing so- if you really want to know ask any SAA pilot as its not really a secret as to who he is. In terms of background he did work for SAA and has spent the last few years flying overseas before being recruited for this project. The reason it’s a person form outside the organisation is because an undertaking was given not to use any SAA resources for the LCC and this is in line with that. There is a very small team going across from SAA to form the nucleus of the management structure- all of them have resigned from the airline as a prerequisite for joining the LCC. Further more almost all of the frontline staff have been recruited outside of SAA. Any resources that were made available to the project team from an SAA perspective are in the process of being withdrawn as they have their license now so its up to them from here to make it happen.
There were quite a few guys form CE that I saw on the list- none of them as far as I know had the 3 month clause- seems there is quite a mixed bag in terms of contracts over there. Yes there were also guys from SAFAIR who also joined. Again form what I was told 737 experience (obviously not on 800’s and there were a few who had no experience on 737’s at all) and availability were key drivers in the selection of the first group. Going forward time is going to be built in to allow for prospective applicants who have to serve a notice period at their particular employers and the 737 experience factor will not be as high.