Worked for Storm aviation for a year (contracted to XL). They were OK, cash was always in the bank.
They persuaded us to use an off shore agency to collect salary (cost £60 per invoice). This is a waste of money. As in the end they send one piece of paper to the client airline and pocket the cash.
On a similar note. There is a lot of bulls--t spoken about contracting and tax. Whilst there are some advantages to being self employed (ability to offset losses such as type rating against future profits), in the end, if you live in the Uk, you pay tax like everyone else.
KT