A few years ago, I took a pay cut and joined Qflink attracted by the
roster. It was pretty decent, shortish days, not too many overnights, plenty of reserve.
The offshoot from that was pilot numbers were very stable. Operations very rarely had a problem finding crew. It was considered by many to be one of the best flying jobs in the country. The money wasn't great, but hey - we had a great life...
and the company was doing very well indeed.
Forward a few years and the feeling around the place is very different. Employee morale has fallen sharply, (of course that won't show up in your accounting). While at the same time, correct me if I am wrong, the company is making sh!tloads of cash.
Things got particularly bad when some brainiac set up the $10K entry fee. That may have been the catalyst to get things heading south as the nasty fee actually discouraged the very type of pilot QFlink had traditionally attracted. By attracting the wrong type - i.e. cashed up kids, the writing was well and truly on the wall. (By wrong I simply mean pilots who are in the period of their lives where they are striving for that jet job, even if it means Jet*.)
To top it off, the regional GM seems to think that by "improving efficiency, together" things will get better. "Improving efficiency" generally means only one thing to a pilot - more work,
much more work, for the same money. And the reward for all this improved efficiency?
More Q400s. Doing more work.
To quote a guy who left recently....."Get out, It's a sinking ship!"
He should know - he has spent a bit of time in boats.
cheers all.