Virgin Australia - Wannabes & Recruitment

[F111]

ccguy,

CASA will only issue an AOC to an operator when it has an aircraft (ie B777 in the case of V Australia) and the required personal. This is listed in CAO 82.5 for High Capacity Operations ie bigger than a Dash 8-100/200. Part of the requirements of holding an AOC is the requirement to have a Check and Training System in place. This is listed in CAR 217. Each crew member (pilot or cabin crew) is required to carry out certain checks per year ie EP’s for cabin crew has listed in CAO 20.11 appendix IV. Part of having a 217 system is the requirement to have check pilots or in the case of cabin crew CASA approved 20.11 instructors who carry out and certify that a cabin crew member has complied with CAO 20.11 appendix IV. CASA 20.11 instructors are only approved to train and check on each aircraft type that CASA have approved them for (CASA issues an Instrument of Approval) and for that airline/AOC only. In order for CASA to issue this instrument the AOC holder must have the aircraft on their AOC with the appropriate manuals and procedures in place. In order for CASA to allow the AOC holder to put an aircraft on the AOC they are required to have check captains plus CASA will only issue in AOC when the company provides them with a rego for the aircraft, you are not allowed to just B777 on your AOC.
So in order for V Australia to allow their cabin crew to crew a B737 or Ejet at least 1 aircraft of each type would be required to be on their AOC, along with the required number of check captains and this is not going to happen. All of the required staff required under CAR 217 is listed in the company’s ops manuals.

You are incorrect when you say all airlines operate under Virgin Blue Holdings LTD; Virgin Blue Holdings LTD is not the holder of the AOC for Virgin Blue or PAC Blue. The holder of the AOC for Virgin Blue is Virgin Blue Airlines PTY LTD and for Pacific Blue; PACIFIC BLUE AIRLINES (NZ) LIMITED. Virgin Blue Holdings LTD is the owner of these companies and V Australia thats it. They do not have an AOC of any sorts. You as cabin crew or pilot operate under an AOC the aircraft are maintained and operated under an AOC, tickets are sold under an AOC, not the owner of the company. It’s the same with QANTAS, the AOC for mainline is issued to Qantas Airways, Jetstar has it’s own AOC and so does Sunstate and Eastern. Although all are owned by QANTAS, each has their own AOC and 217 check and training system, therefore an A330 Cabin Crew member for Qantas cannot just jump on and crew a Jetstar A330 flight, a Cabin Crew member at Sunstate cannot crew a flight with Eastern etc.

Think about if this was allowed Qantas would have the Jetstar Cabin Crew crewing their flights when they need them.

The same goes for the Cabin Crew who pay to do a Cabin Crew course at Aviation Australia. Aviation Australia trains these people on multiple aircraft, however their qualifications don’t allow them to jump straight into an aircraft an operate a flight, why because CAO 82.5 and CAR217 does not allow it.

With regard the offers to go to PAC Blue, those Cabin Crew who do go will be required to carry out training, including their EP’s training before they are allowed to operate a flight with them. This will then bring those cabin crew members in under their check and training system. The same goes for the pilot’s that are going there, although they are currently flying the same aircraft they are required to complete 4 weeks of ground school including EP’s and simulator training, to bring them under the PAC Blue check and training system. Once they complete their 6 months in NZ they will come back and require further training and checking under Virgn Blue’s system before they can operate a Virgin Blue flight.

Virgin Blue have kept the companies and the AOC separate for many reasons, such as if one gets into trouble they get shut it down with affecting the others.

So down the track they may bring all the companies in under one AOC, then cabin crew could operate on 777s, 737s and E-jets, but it’s a long way off as V Australia will have to be making good money, plus the pilot’s (Virgin Blue) EBA still has 4 years to run before they could try and push contracts on the pilots.

Plus like I said the FMS would not allow it based on the current routes, sure if they started to operate to Asia with shorter legs and less BOC then you could operate a domestic sector (s), but it would still require all the aircraft to be under the same AOC, ie Virgin Blue Airlines or V Australia.