Ryanair pilot recruitment coming to talk to United Airlines pilots?
Hi guys-
Long term lurker, first time poster. I have a question for you all....
As many of you know, things are pretty ugly over here in the U.S. airline industry. Here at United, it looks like we will be laying off somewhere around 900 active line pilots. Our company is trying to mitigate some of the layoffs, and we received a company e-mail today concerning possible pilot job opportunities at Ryanair.
As my companions and I read this e-mail, we're kind of confused. The e-mail basically stated that "a head of Ryanair pilot recruitment" is going to come to talk to any interested United pilot about taking a job at Ryanair, in an attempt (we assume) to possibly allow our furloughees a chance at a job and perhaps attract some current and qualified 737 Captains.
We're a little confused by this potential offer, and perhaps some of you can shed some light on the subject:
1) Why would Ryanair even consider hiring United furloughees or current and qualified United pilots when they know that most or all of these pilots would just simply return to the U.S. during the next economic upswing?
2) Why would Ryanair even consider U.S. pilots at all when the vast majority of us don't have the EU equivalent of the U.S. ATP and probably won't go through the time and expense of obtaining it?
3) Isn't Ryanair shrinking or at the very least not growing much? I thought I read on this forum that Ryanair was suffering a bit under the current economic climate and one would think that therefore wouldn't need to actively recruit pilots?
4) Why would Ryanair even look for pilots in the U.S. at all? The compensation package looks pretty decent and is certainly higher than most found in the U.S. Despite the worldwide "pilot shortage" we keep hearing about in the U.S., one would think that the Ryanair compensation package would at least attract enough qualified European pilots to fill the slots?
Thanks in advance for the input.