Am told Ireland is very expensive to live and Dublin costs more than London or Stavanger. I also heard that they pay their pilots less there than on the North Sea, but that they're told that it's because the Irish Coastguard cannot afford to pay the money that the oil companies pay.
Trouble is unionisation has got pilots in the North Sea a big pay rise, but still CHC are going to fire/make redundant 12-15 pilots in UK after Bond getting the contract for BP - though that may just be an excuse.
I know a few guys who were offered work in Ireland with CHC, but CHC never got back to them. They think it may be tied in with one senior Brit in CHC management in South Africa who seems to upset a lot of people. Some of the guys who were looking for work overseas with CHC were very upset by his attitude and decided to stay where they were. He is supposed to return to UK this year, so perhaps Scotia will have more trouble there later in the year.
How is morale in CHC in general now, with the redundancies on the way and the loss of work to Bond? Are many pilots really thinking of working for Bond again?