The fiscality in Belgium is a concern, but this is mainly the Brussels Airlines management argument behind what they hide to justify the current situation.
Brussels Airlines pilots netto salaries are a joke, but gross salary packages are already 15 to 50 % below the major airlines standards.
This is what's really happening;
1) After Sabena banckrupcy (2001) they created (SN)Brussels Airlines and cutted off the pilot's gross salaries, with this argument ; "take it or leave it".
2) No significant improvements of salaries or social life for the pilots, considered as "button pushers" since the start of the company, working on a 10 on - 4 off basis.
NB: The office staffs get a 13th month on their payslip, even the mechanics get one, but the pilots don't.
3) Total Brussels Airlines pilots are around 540 (80 on airbus, 110 on 737 and 350 on AVRO). Around 25 pilots left in 2005, 45 in 2006 and...
4) Current industry boom--> Already some 40 pilots left since January 2007.
Until now the Brussels Airlines management still refuses to raise the pilot salaries or improve their social lifes and they have just launched a specific action plan.
This plan consist on pushing the ab-initio's training to a max, hire retired sabena airbus pilots to fly on the airbus sector and stop the promotions from Avro to airbus left seat to maintain the experienced Avro captains on their seat.
As they expect some Avros to be grounded due to lack of crews, it seems that they've decided to replace them by additional "wet-leased" aircrafts+crews for september/October this year!
The next coming months should be interesting...