SSV bases depend on the annual deployed contract with the contractor. In the past First Choice (now TUI), MyTravel (now Thomas Cook), Khalifa, Ghana, etc have based dependent on their needs.
For the summer the consistent base was Dublin on the 757. Others have been Manchester (A330), Leeds(320), Teeside(320), East Midlands(320), Cork(320), Belfast(320), Cardiff(320), Glasgow (767), Newcastle(320), etc. The 320 population is greatly diminished in Canada and the 330 program services Ireland, the Balearics and Italy. UK basing in the past has included accommodation for the crews with a small allowance for groceries.
In the winter, flights service the Caribbean hot spots from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec & Halifax. Most layovers are on the 757/767/A330.
If you work for SSV, you will work hard in the winter and you should expect to go to Europe in the summer. It is a difficult life style for families with older children (above Kindergarten) and a home which needs tending.
The cabin crews are good and generally expect to be laid-off during the slow summer season. Toronto has a base of permanent cabin crew.
The maintenance is excellent and backed by the best experience from all the other non-existent charters. Only certified parts are used at this Canadian charter.
The largest complaint here is that the stock of parts held is victim to the seasonal trend of the company.
The aircraft are many and various configurations dependent entirely on the lease arrangement. Operations does well communicating the variants.
Training has been good in the past and is maturing as the cultures between C3, Roy and SSV merge with time.
The agreed time off per month is eleven days. Expect that to deteriorate in the winter from mid-Dec to mid-March. When the company wants to drive home a point they will threaten layoffs and have laid-off in the past. The shortest lay off period was 3 days in 2001.
The best candidate for this job is one who loves to go to work, doesn't like to have a pet, a child, a team sport and likes to clean weapons in the forest alone. (The last is a joke, the others are not.)
I enjoyed working at this company. You must be open minded, flexible and willing to answer the phone as it is a charter business and is always changing and adjusting to the needs of the customers. The customers are the tour operator - not the passenger, as in an airline. The routes change every six months, the flying is great and you never know what is next. This is the reason why I specify past tense in much of the information. It has happened - but could change for the next time.
Having said that - everyone adapts as best as humanly possible.
The culture among the pilots is good. They're all in it together and if one books off they know it affects a buddy negatively somewhere else. They support each-other well in most cases. The morale is low. They never know what is going to come their way next.
If you're young, this "company" is a great stepping stone for taking a job outside of Canada. There is much to experience from the company, and more to gain and learn from this excellent group of people.