Guess the problem is that all other companies have only a fraction of the pilots SAS has, and therefore are not as 'visible'. SAS is the big fish in the Scandinavian pond, just like UA is in the US.
But one must also remember the management people that show very poor attitudes with statements regarding recruitment (referring to infamous Hans Jorgen Jensen) who complains and complains about how the Scandinavian market is completely dry of pilots, 'where am I going to find 200 pilots a year....' blah, blah blah. We all know that there are plenty of QUALIFIED pilots out there, but SAS' policy of once a no, always a no is [in my view] a very arrogant one and is probably one reason why a lot of people are upset with SAS. Sure, maybe they failed their SAS interview when they came from the US or wherever with 800 hours or so, but by now might have 2-3000 hours of experience, maybe even command in jets and turboprops. Who is [HJJ] to say that these people NEVER can become pilots in SAS...? And we've all heard the stories of people getting in the second, third or fourth try. Just doesn't seem to be any consistency...
Also, I heard a report from a meeting in Norway, where all the head recruiters were present, and SAS stood up [not HJJ this time!] and claimed they would have no problems recruiting new pilots from the likes of Wideroe & Braathens [since SAS was a much more attractive airline to work for]. Was this guy not aware of the fact that a lot of these pilots he thinks will be 'easy' to recruit already have applied with SAS, gotten their NO and therefore cannot apply again...?
All this reminds me of the Linjeflyg story where a lot of 'nonqualified'*) [already gotten NO once from SAS] pilots became SAS employees overnight. These pilots are today the backbone of swedish pilots and are doing very well for SAS! Who is to say others, given the chance, cannot perform equally as well...?
Just my thoughts...
*) Just to clarify, I am NOT saying that the Linjeflyg pilots had poor qualifications, purely that a lot of them had applied for SAS initially and gotten no, further disqualifying them from applying to SAS again.
[This message has been edited by dick badcock (edited 17 April 2001).]