JOhn21UK, presume nothing. Very dangerous in any airline but particularly so in Gulfair. The Management Team make it up as they go along. They abolished expat contracts yeas ago and everyone was on an "open-ended" deal. Lets face it, three months notice either side is what you get in most places so a "contract" is not worth much, is it ? Then, they got in a complete muddle in connection with the "Age Over 60" fiasco. These guys were given One year contracts. They converted some to A340, bonded them on two year deals but still on one year contracts ! Later, these were reduced to six month contracts ! Nothing "just a formality" in this outfit old bean.