I did what I had to do to get a job, it really is that simple. I never claimed to be something different, but I had to take what I was offered.
I care for this industry as much as anybody, if not more, and my passion for flying is unquestionable - Ryanair have one of the toughest assessments going, and it's easy to combat that statement with, "Well explain how so many people are walking through their doors!" It's because they have nowhere else to go - I should imagine 70% of pilots who have been furloughed in recent months have had a crack at FR, and when you consider how many that is, the pass rate suddenly doesn't seem so high.
So regardless of other people's opinions, I am proud to work for the company I do.
I must say, however, I breached the 500 hour mark a few months back - December saw me fly 74 hours, and last month I flew upwards of 80, which aint bad going considering the times. Sure, our load factors are down, but there are less than a handful of routes down by 50%. I would estimate we're seeing on average about 75-80% what we did last Summer.
As a company, we continue to expand, and the view you put forward above is very untrue but a common misconception of RYR. We're set for a busy year, and we need people to fill the new seats that are arriving. I'd bet money that none of those aeroplanes will need to be put into storage, and I remain convinced that everybody will have enough work to tie them down, at least until the Winter.
But we cannot blame the new guys purely for this - Ryanair's been offering this scheme for years without any problems.
If you really want somebody to blame, turn on the TV
