I fly for Air Southwest and can say the morale is the same as it always has been - higher than most airlines but lower than some!
One of the biggest and most recent issues which affected the lowering of morale was the promotion of two new DE captains to TRI/training Captains later to become TREs. Why this happened no one knows. Everyone in ASW has an opinion on this and mine is no different to most. MJ had the experience on the Dash and the experience as a trainer in BACX so in many ways his proomotion was justified although he had no senirority in ASW. The second person who received a TRI job was slightly different but somewhere there must be a justification for it.
The people who whinge and moan are all known to the pilots and management pilots. We all know who CTS and SBDreamer are and these are the people who get little reward in Air Southwest. You whinge and moan and it will go against you but if you put the hard work and the effort in and it WILL be noticed!
The growth of Air Southwest has always been questionable but lets not forget they have more thean doubled in size in the last 18 months or so. On the other hand there are many of us who see Sutton Harbour draining the money from the airline and putting it into more property which I know 110% of us disagree with. But what can we do? the MD doesnt listen.
I joined Air Southwest during the time of the 10k bonds and I can say that the new 20k deal over 4 years is definitely a hard pill to swallow but its alot better then paying for it yourself out of your own pocket. Should the company fail or go bust then the company will be the ones paying the bond back as I recall i received a letter from the finance chap. Iirc, it said i am only responsible for the loan if i leave the company volantarily - therefore redundancy is not an option.
Either way there is no way in a million years I am paying the remainder of my bond unless I get a job elsewhere!
I have my up and down days with Air Southwest but most of the time i just realise how little i fly for a half decent wage (it was terrible 16.5k
). Its a great training airline for the young, a great retirement package for the old and a bit of a questionable existence for the middle aged!
Good airline, good people, good crews, sweet cabin crew, good CP, questionable aircraft!
Thats my two penneths worth!