Hi Judge 11,
I suspect you are correct there, and thanks for a much more reasoned post, for which I give you the recognition it deserves. Debate is good, unreasoned mudsliging is below most pilots dignity!!!
As you suspect I am quite 'close' to this, and prefer people to know the reality. Cityjet have in fact been trying to find alternatives to layoffs, which bearing in mind their reputation (deserved in many cases I am sure) is actually more than some Airlines will do. Hence the offer to the crews.I believe there were few takers. This is fine, it is a personal decision, and HEL in winter is not for the faint hearted believe me..
My experience of PAS and Blue1 however leads me to comment, which I do rarely. PAS contractors at Blue1 have been, well the vast majority anyway, excellent in the past 6 years, and also the Blue1 pilots have been very gracious work colleagues (one wishes one could say that of other operators). People are expected to work hard, as always, but are treated well in return.
Conversely, I believe that Blue1 used PAS to take their own pilots to Swiss on contract, so there is obviously a very good working relationship between the two companys.
I believe that the interviews for this will be taking place in late October, in DUB, which, whilst it sounds like a 'stitch up', makes sense as there is an ARJ simulator there for the testing...sounds wise to me!
I would suggest that whoever is interested, should contact the 'horses mouth' and see whether they like what they hear, as my personal experience with both the above companies was entirely satisfactory.
BD