I find myself caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Were you to listen to the disenchanted contributors here like Doug The Head and others, you could come to the conclusion that there was no hope for the airline industry. Whilst I do not share that opinion I think there are grounds for concern. The simple fact is that this is a supply and demand industry-right now at the bottom end of the market there is significantly greater supply of new pilots than demand for them.
You will find that www is not alone in his views- I have some sympathy for them. Many pilots have had considerably more stressful financial experiences in aviation than those experienced by easyJet flexicrew pilots. So on one side, it is good for those guys to actually consider how fortunate they are. Even the guys leaving to join BA are in a very fortunate position - they turned up with 200 hours and here they are now with a guaranteed career structure ahead of them. That, however, is only one side of a complex argument. The difficulty we have to recognise is that from the first day these new pilots join they are totally disengaged from and disgruntled with easyJet. I have always believed that complete engagement with the pilot community is the way ahead. I also believe that our CEO wants that too. At this minute and due to dreadful advice from her Group Ops Director, she is unwilling to make the necessary commitments to eradicate temporary contracts. As I have stated many times on this forum, I believe that temporary contracts are counter-productive and not in the interests of either easyJet or its pilots. They have damaged our reputation and shown our management in a bad light. Any pay deal this year that does not deal properly with this issue is unacceptable to me.
Last edited by Alexander de Meerkat; 24th October 2011 at 00:20.