European Business Jets

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My EBJ experience.

Hi,

I have read all your posts with interest. I know a few of the names being thrown about and I would like to add my comments.

I used to work for EBJ flying the Citation XLS in Edinburgh and Guernsey. I was offered a permanent position but turned it down because I was being messed about, they got my name wrong on the contract, no one would give me a straight answer and I never got paid on time.

From what I know EBJ operate a CJ fleet and two XLS which are privately owned. One of the XLS is based at Edinburgh and the other is in Guernsey. At the time I was there they were talking about putting the XLS to work on charter operations but as I have not been there for a few months so I don't know if this is still the case.
My salary offer on the XLS as an FO was £28000 with £30 per diem for each duty day. I turned down the offer due to all the problems I was having with EBJ. Some of these problems were;
They only paid freelance pilots, which I was at the time, by cheque when other companies, paid by bank transfer. Even when I asked them to transfer my pay into my bank due to the pending mail strike they still sent it by mail, so as I was only working a few days per week the money I received was never enough to cover all my bills and expenses so I was unable to work at that time until I received my cheque and the funds cleared in my account. This did happen on another occasion and one of the chaps in opps paid for a hire car so that I could position to Biggin Hill.
I never received money on time and it took over 4 weeks at times have my expenses reimbursed, even though when I joined the company I was told that there had been a problem paying people on time but they promised that I would be paid on time.
£30 per diem is a little low most companies will have a maximum of £50 per overnight duty period, £10 for breakfast, £30 for lunch and £40, for dinner if returning home in the evening, or an increase to £50 for staying overnight.
Also as there was not enough crew to operate one XLS there was no stable roster and you would be expected to work your days off if you were asked to, which seems to still happen today.

A little information for people interested in the XLS operation.
On the XLS based in Edinburgh I flew to the following destinations. Biggin Hill to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Biggin Hill, Venice and Dublin. The Venice and Dublin trips were one offs at the time!
The XLS in Guernsey flew to a few more destinations, Exeter, RAF Shawbury, Manchester, Bournemouth and Southampton

Would I recommend anyone to work for EBJ, the answer is no!

They do have a large staff turnover and a lot of pilots are unhappy with EBJ.
They do have a bad reputation in the industry. I know people who still work for EBJ and the problems with EBJ are ongoing.
EBJ remains the only company that I have worked for who won’t always pay for the hotel room, but will reimburse the costs later.
Their roster is not stable and they do not have enough crew per aircraft to have a stable roster.
EBJ management are still making promises that either they know that can’t keep or just don’t care as long as they have pilots available.
The XLS job in Guernsey has been advertised for a long time so it tells me that either people who have 1000hrs won’t touch EBJ, or they can get a better deal elsewhere.

For the time being EBJ seems to be an unstable company and would be a company to avoid at the moment.

The above information is from my experience of the company as well as other pilots I know, who have shared their frustration with me.

If you just need to build your hours and don’t care about the above statement then apply to EBJ.
They might take low hours pilots as long as you have a type rating.

I hope this has brought some light on this subject.

I left EBJ out of choice and I have now been paid in full. I hope that they take on board what has been said and do something about it, but that might just be wishful thinking!