I haven’t visited PPrune for a while. Frankly the site has become tedious. Childish and uniformed comment, although sometimes amusing, has proved to be boring and frustrating.
Racist comments and allegations of the same are often, in my experience, used by those incapable of making reasoned argument. The subject of lay off’s at GF is an important one. Naturally expats will be the first to go. This is reasonable. Who amongst us would argue otherwise? Imagine any national airline sacking nationals in favour of expats!!
So-called locals are undoubtedly talented and more than capable of manning and managing the airline. However problems do arise with depth of experience and cultural difficulties. This is sadly only too obvious with any cursory analysis of GF’s present condition. Our business is extremely competitive and relies on an ability to focus on problems in great detail. This is our greatest nemesis. The hard decisions are avoided accompanied by a mind-boggling lack of attention to detail. Laziness is endemic and nepotism rife. This corporate culture has only one outcome. Failure of the airline.
I am sure that the powers that be recognise this. As a result several management changes have been made and studies undertaken to improve the situation. However so far it has been half hearted. The PCE is still unable to get a grip of the underlying failures. I’m sure this is mostly attributable to political interference. Sadly the rot has not stopped. If the airline is to be saved then the PCE has to be a hard-nosed expat free off meddling sheiks/infighting and able to make sweeping changes. Jobs will have to go. Expat and local. If half the staff at HQ were sacked today would anyone notice their departure?
I wonder if this argument can be taken forward without the usual vitriolic rhetoric so prevalent in recent years?
As an aside I note with interest A320 Capt’s remarks on the high quality of GF’s CRM courses. Once again the nub of the matter is disregarded. The 072 crash was a direct result of the failings outlined above along with a number of others to obvious to mention. Yet this accident and others involving GF was not discussed in any way. Are we learning the lessons of other mistakes? No, better to sweep the subject under the carpet in the hope that it will go away!!
This has been a long post; I hope I haven’t bored the pants off you. As a parting shot consider the following;
Ramadan is upon us. Once again crews will be undertaking long haul flights whilst fasting. For those not familiar with such practises pilots refrain from food and drink of any sort during day light hours. Often 12 hours or more. Is this safe? Medical opinion would suggest otherwise. Ramadan Kareem.