Hi everyone! For all interested in the Atlas Blue I wish to give some advice..
they will be starting recruiting soon, usual contract with rishworth, and that's about the only good part. The fleet will stay operative until late 2011, but nothing official is told by the company, that anyway is 100% in the RAM hands. Be ready to find a tipical moroccan situation (maybe you can check out some of the RAME complains!). Here's the same:
-Schedule changes on about 70% of the roster.
-No uniforms, of course, and that includes EVERYTHING!
-Only 4 days off consecutive, and the rest spread randomly throughout the month, -No standby days, but a curious "Gentleman agreement"
from the past, of which all is left is that you basically HAVE to anwer to sometimes absurde calls in the middle on the night during your "blanc" days (meaning that no flight is scheduled on that day).
-Marrakech base is only theoretical. Airbus for now is flying off Oujda
, a tiny center in the north, shuttleing between Oujda Orly and Agadir. There's another rotation from Paris Orly
, and some rotations out of Fez. So Marrakech is only sporadic in the roster.
-The management's plan is sometimes obscure. The pilots here are leaving cause they saw an meaningless change in the conditions. Without any operational reason they cut on the days off, put people on forced paid leave, made operational choices that seems only aimed to make them upset. So basically Atlas Blue hires pilots cause a lot left/are leaving.
The pros are that they kept the salary, which is good especially for F/Os
(4.400 € + 1000€ for housing) and the number of hours flown during the year. You can expect about 850 in 12 mths, avg 70 / Mth. (in winter too, which is pretty good)
Being the worldwide situation what it is now Atlas Blue is worth a try if you are low on options, and in any case take it as a temporary job.