Quote Joe Bloggs: ''A good many people have invested heavily in their careers at Ryanair''
There's the problem. RYR cannot be considered a career airline anymore. It's somewhere people pass through on their way up, but unless you are the lucky few who are in the left seat at a base of your choice - a long term future with them isn't attractive. For those starry eyed newguys with the brand new fATPLs who think that the glossy paint on the jets is going to make the job better, the point in your life where they have to make long term decisions is never far away and the glamour of the new job evaporates rapidly.
There is no doubt that a lot of the rot in this industry started with LoCos and in particular, with RYR. How this affect everyone is clear when you see what is happening in my company. We have some of the best Ts and Cs in the world - but we live in one of the most expensive cities in the world. We are recruiting, the basic pay is the same as was on offer before, but the additional benefits which are essential to maintain the lifestyle most are accustomed to are vastly reduced. The package sounds attractive though, in comparison to what is now on offer in Europe and we have had plenty of applicants - many from RYR! We have in this industry a whole generation of pilots who think it's normal to pay over a hundred thousand pounds to get into the seat of a jet while paying for food/uniforms/passes/accomodation etc and any extra scraps are jumped on. We are now seeking pilots with lower expectations.
It will be interesting to see how long these new recruits will last here.