The wonderful Ryanair put an end to that being possible when they showed the industry that there are enough cheating, self centred, queue jumping, impatient little bell ends out there that are willing to spend an extortionate amount of money to legally do what an expensive, relatively experienced FO can do for pay.
Jesus Beak, sometimes I think you live in a world where you believe airlines should be run as exclusive flying clubs for their pilots. Commercial aviation, like every other business in existance, has a sole purpose to make money. And to make money, amongst other things, you must control your costs. Lets take it away from an aviation perspective, so bare with me here.
Nov, 2008 - Car maker, Honda announces plans to close its Swindon plant creating fears for 4800 jobs. Speculation remains that the company will chose to relocate its operation in order to lower future costs.
Feb, 2009 - Computer company, Dell cuts 2000 jobs in Limerick in order to transport its operations to Poland where it can pay cheaper wages.
Aug, 2009 - Drinks giant director, Bryan Donaghey, admits that 700 jobs in Diageo Scotland could move overseas in order to lower costs
The list goes on. All these companies are exploring avenues in order to lower costs. So back to aviation....
Why do airlines employ cadets? Going by Oxford's figures, that lean and ever so efficient flag carrier of ours, employed almost 140 of their starry eyed cadets (assuming that's what they were) between 2005 and 2008. Why didn't they take on 140 DE FOs with JAR25 time? Probably because they wanted to give the Oxford lads a head start in life! (along with all the other integrated cadets that they took on from FTE, Cabair and CTC).
Why does the likes of Easyjet, Thomas Cook and Monarch get such a stiffy over the CTC Wings and Flexicrew schemes? Surely because they produce a superior kind of cadet First Officer? Not because of the fact that they can stick them on some 6 month contract, pay them 1K a month and then say toodle pip? Ahh, but they didn't pay for their TR? No, but they paid for it indiretly by fronting up the overinflated course cost with CTC and then accepting 1K a month for up to and including 100 hours of multicrew experience. I'll let you do the maths on that one in order to calculate an hourly rate!
What's the hidden reason for Aer Lingus persuing a UK AOC? Is it the same reason as why their Belfast and Gatwick crews aren't employed on the same salaries, terms and conditions as their Dublin counterparts?
The list again goes on. So I'll bring you back to your point about doing something for less - IT'S FECKIN EVERYWHERE MATE!! Or maybe we will just brand this lot and everyone else that does something for less as a
'scab' and
'parasite' as well?
I like to think of myself as a resonably level head type of fella who can often see the wood for the trees. If you seek out any of my posts on the matter you will see that the whole scenario that we find ourselves in as relatively new pilots stinks, completely and utterly. The SSTR and paying over the odds for training is nothing new. It had grown with monumental popularity long before either of us logged our first hour in a Cessna. Yet you take the moral high ground, just because you were
fortunate enough for some now defunct airline to pay for your TR and give you a nice jacket and a cap with a bit of gold braid on it.
Here's a theory that you are probably unwilling to accept. Lets reintroduce your,
'I'm more holly than though' statement of...
that there are enough cheating, self centred, queue jumping, impatient little bell ends out there that are willing to spend an extortionate amount of money to legally do what an expensive, relatively experienced FO can do for pay.
You went to OXFORD did you not? Modular or Integrated, you paid above and beyond the average cost for a UK issued CPL/IR and MCC. So why go to a school that talks about 'first officer direct,' has some two striped wonder peering out of the DV window of some airliner in it's latest brocher and bangs on about schemes with Flybe, BA, TCX and Netjets every second minute? Ws it because you were happy to wait your place in the que or was it because you wanted to maximise your chances of going directly to the RHS? Does this then make you a
self centred, queue jumping, impatient little bell end
because you gave two fingers to the traditional route, while all the other guys that spent the bare bones on their training spend there time instructing, dropping parachutes and towing gliders (if they are lucky!)
Discuss