The demise of Dragonair
from Dictionary.com
Dragon: Bible. a large animal, possibly a large snake or crocodile
snake : a treacherous person; an insidious enemy
My predicament with my employer, Dragonair is becoming incredibly frustrating, galling and verging on infuriating. I think the word im looking for is corporate stagnation. Stagnation by Ka policy makers to deal with the impending dissolution of Ka by Cx.
Ka flt ops management are inept at best. They are Yes men, but not thinkers or doers. Picked for their sycophantism, they are ostensibly chasing their tails to make their CX masters happy. We as flight crew are overwhelmed by the ill thought out introduction of ostensibly CX procedures. How often must we be told that as of this or that date, we will not do what we have been quite happily doing for years, but adopt a totally different approach. Then to be told 2 weeks later that as nobody understands the new procedures, there will be a delay to resolve the confusion. But you will comply and not complain with what we write, by order of the der management
We have had so far this year a rushed introduction of CX flt planning, with inadequate support. We have now no engineering support outside HKG, unless you manage to radio the poor engineers who are on duty that day, overworked and facing an imminent dismissal by Ka if flt ops management adopt engineer "on call" .The guys are often tired after 18 hours duty, and who can blame them. Next is ACARS performance data access, of which is all self briefing. Self abuse I think. Do we have any groundschool in Ka anymore? What happened to a day off free of duty, Ka are abusing this, making everything "self briefing". Will I self brief my next type course?
We have a 2% pay offer. But removal of overtime. We have more managers, but greater crew disillusionment. Its not commands, or lifestlyes that matter so much as believing that you belong to a worthy cause, something that is a job well done. Alas, I cant think of the last time I felt that I had that warm fuzzy feeling about working here. My career is stale, moving no where. We had expansion, now its repetition of routes and destinations. For gods sake Xian twice daily and Fuzhou? 20 times a day to Shanghai, what happened to that eggs in one basket that Ka was so woefully exposed to after SARS? We have now been informed that Cx will be removing the 3 longhaul A330s for their own use, but what of the Ka crews? This may explain the recent cancellation of the A330 command course, despite several resignations and movements of Crew to the 747-4. Next command course, Nov, then who knows or cares. Its good our managers are out to preserve their god like positions, Cx is coming, and they will be ruthless. We the MFO, MA CP MLO CTC, our entourage and umpteen assistants, must be unctuous but be seen to screw those meddling pilots. A group we profess to be from, but memories are short, we are out for number one. And that's not Ka.
Ok, so to move on? Ha Ha not easy for an old sod like me. And to where, im already in Lo Co China style. I would certainly wish I had made my choice to join a major carrier rather than come to the stalemate of airlines. A little longer to LHS in EK, but hey I might live long enough not to suffocate on corporate stifling, and like Hong Kong itself, incremental intoxication from mainland effluent.
For those interested in joining Ka, consider your options, there are many. Don't come with the short term view of "I will get my command or rating and leave" . Its difficult, time waits for no man or pilot. Choose wisely, its you life, don't make it theirs.