FATTY...
That’s a bit harsh, to be fair Airserv did not start out in the same way as the companies it now competes with...as I mentioned earlier here it was originally a modified version of MAF depending to a large extent on the motivation of its aircrew and field staff being that of bringing aid to the third world and therefore keeping costs to a minimum and aid funding going to where it's most needed...
The reality is that it has undergone a metamorphosis over the years and apart from its technical NGO status it's pretty much indistinguishable from the profit motivated companies serving UN and similar contracts in areas of hardship and conflict.
In the current market there are fewer people available with altruistic motives AND the necessary qualifications to fly in what can be difficult conditions and territories and so it's not suprising that ASI with it's relatively arcane T's and C's are having crewing difficulties... these can be offset to some extent by the close association with Naturelink who provide not only aircraft but (better paid ) crews. The management of ASI seem reluctant to recognise the change of circumstances either in the NGO itself or the market in general. One excuse offered re crew rates was that as an American company they had to pay very high insurance on employees... I found that difficult to acccept in relation to non-American contract pilots who I would have thought could be offered the alternative of putting there own insurance in place.
An e-mail from a colleague who more recently left ASI tells me that the current whinge is the amount of money that goes into salaries and support of home office and talk of reducing qualifications of recruits... so 'wannabees ' it may be an opportunity but take care... the demands on flying ability while normally not excessive can be extremely demanding under the wrong circumstances and you only have to get it wrong once...
For my part I enjoyed the experience of working with ASI.. but it's not a career company. No one forces anybody to work there and by my way of thinking those that choose to have no real reason to complain, at least in regard to contract fees as the rates are made clear from the beginning.
As to ASI's problem with recruiting..... that has to be left to the management.