I'll try and keep future comments specific to pilot's issues at Arik, and more specifically the timely pay issue. Whether the airline can afford to put tyres on planes really doesn't matter to us specifically.
You'll note the genius in the token $200 "late fee" offer. When they pay you late, let's say the 20th of the month, for work performed the previous month, and you quit immediately after, they've gotten 20 days of work for free (they'll never pay for the 20 worked days) and they didn't have to buy you a plane ticket home. Win, Win.
The fact that is costs about $35,000 to bring in a new pilot is lost in those savings, but management of money has never been a strong point at Arik. It's easy to mismanage other people's money.
Also, I've got to come up with a way to differentiate between the pilot groups, who are treated so very differently.
Arik Pilots who get paid late, ride in coach, get the low end of the hotel offerings, have the longest rotations, get paid a common, lower pay, and operate the B737, CRJ, Q400, HS25 will be referred to as: 7CQH pilots
If you're a Global Express, A330 pilot, and contract HiFly pilots, who will be paid on time, ride business class, and get the best hotels, superior rotation and rostering, and highest pay, you will be referred to as: GAHF pilots
Note: it was previously reported that the contract with HiFly was extended one year, but that's not quite the case. The contract for the first A340 expires this Dec 2010, and has been extended "month to month". The same for the second A340, which expires in March 2011.
Finally, the pilot group needs a union. Badly. HiFly gets paid on time because as a group of pilots, they are 100% unified by their boss that they absolutely will not work past a missed payday. Thoughts to the organization of a union would be appreciated. I suspect the pay issue will never be seriously addressed until such time as there is a unified voice to stop work without pay.
