-Sick - ....'BALPA/BA pilot's whinges should be given short thrift as they come out with lame old "BA work, BA work, BA work".
No it isn't; The only BA connection is that it is BAs capital and expertise. The flights dont even touch UK soil. The BA pilots can have even less claim on Lauren/BA European posts than was the case with 'Go'.'
So...BA set it up using their capital, their assets (at this stage at least 2 BA 75s will be removed from the mainline fleet to be utilised), use their management to implement and start it up running under the BA banner and therefore of course their pilots should be allowed absolutely no interest in this at all? Rubbish. Of course the current BA workforce should feel some angst towards it.
It is entirely understandable that the company should desire to use this as an opportunity to make a clean break and not burden themselves with the current age-old pay and roster structure. Who can blame them? It makes sound financial sense to try to reduce the overheads where possible. You will most likely find that the majority of BA pilots would be willing to work there at the different rates, for various reasons, not least of which would provide more opportunities for command advancement. To say that they should have no right to it is ridiculous especially as there are already hundreds of pilots from both sides of the flight deck with current B757/767 ratings on their license who could quite easily fill those seats. Such a policy exists at the likes of Easy and other pan-European carriers and one doesn't hear many sour grapes about it from those parts of the community. If there is a seat available then somebody from somewhere else within the company can bid for it, regardless of nationality or origin and destination of services run at that base.
Secondly, what you will find is that BECAUSE it is the same management who are setting it up, the BA staff are worried this will leave the door open to these new T's and C's being adopted eventually back at the mothership. Regardless of what your personal opinions are on the current contracts, it is only human nature to be concerned that somebody may attempt to make negative changes to the T's and C's, and consequently lifestyle, that one had planned on and made decisions around when they joined.
Now if you happen to be one of those who would like a job at this new setup, then I would understand that you might be nervous that what seems like a potential opportunity might be watered down by the use of pilots already within the airline but ultimately new jobs are being created everywhere because of this. The pilots working for BA in Europe will leave seats to fill wherever they come from, internal or external, so you shouldn't feel aggrieved. I myself haven't decided whether or not the concept appeals to me or not yet but i certainly wouldn't make the mistake of thinking BA crew shouldn't have anything invested in it.