Carpatair: Yesterday and Tommorow...
Hello gentlemen,
I have been employed by this "lovely" company for almost 5 years.
It has been sweet at the beginning, but things went a little bit downhill in the overhaul impression.
Since last winter there has been a lot of changes. A lot of cost control in all the wrong places. They laid of a lot of freelancers cause there was no need for them at that time. A short while after they were desperate in getting new ones. They got a few of them back at half pay almost. Now as a freelance CPT you are looking at around 3000-3500 EUR tops. At the moment FO are not so much in demand as Dave mentioned.
But Carpatair is looking in getting 3 new Fokker 70 so maybe in the near future.....
As for the upgrade, forget it. Even us as locals, we have been asked for 20G to pay for our selves.
They are trying to impose a new policy: everybody pays for their Type Rating or Upgrade Course. Almost all of the old FO have bailed out.
Usually for freelancers the roster is 3 weeks on and 1 off. There is one aircraft in Libya, flying for Petro Air, and it would be, at least for now, the preferred base for them. Out of my own experience, Libya is a place to stay away from.
And if you are in Timisoara, the home base of the company, regular 7 hours of standby at the airport are waiting for you guys, and i can tell you that is not very amusing about it. They cut costs in accommodation also so expect days off in company apartments on the outstations, or the company's motel at the Carpatair Flying School located next to Timisoara Airport.
If anybody need more info, I'll be more that happy to provide.
PS: Freelance pilots are requested to deposit a security fund of 5000 EUR in the company's account.