Thomas Cook had 6 cadets from OAA and about 20 Pay-To-Fly-150-hours FOs from an Alteon scheme that they made redundant around 1st October 2009. They allegedly will take the OAA Cadets back if/when flying picks up again in the Spring.
Hmm, a case of not letting a little white lie get in the way of a good story I think!
TCX have made
no pilots redundant this year. In fact 21 cadets / temps from CTC/Alteon were offered permanent part-time (7 months on/5 months off) contracts at the end of the summer season. A large number of those not lucky enough to get a contract have already been asked to return for a further temp contract in summer 2010.
TCX has basically rewarded the dedication and good performance of 21 young guys and girls at a time when redundancy is on the cards for so many of our colleagues in the industry.
Don't get me wrong, part-year contracts and pay-to-fly schemes aren't perfect but in the current climate it is undeserving to criticise TCX for giving people a chance, particularly if some of the latest easyJet cadet contracts are anything to go by.
Whatever your opinion, it's certainly not fair to claim anyone was made redundant, when the opposite actually occured.
