Thomson Airways is obviously one of the few companies left that offer industry leading Ts & Cs to the pilots, but for how long they can keep this up in the face of competition from EZY and FR has to be an issue.
Penworth is spot on imho
Just a little warning for those considering leaving other jobs for the bottom of a long seniority list run by a ruthless management. It may work out and you've got a great job for life in a great company - just be aware of the background behind this recruitment, ie. the fact that there were significant redundancies 2 years ago.
and more worryingly, dashead says
Bear in mind though that some current FOs (some with only 6 years in) and who favour doing flexi have P60s of £100k pa.
How long the company can sustain these comparatively generous rates of pay in the face of relentless attacks on pay and conditions by the likes of FR and the inevitable "benchmarking" by the rest would surely be a question a new joiner would need to ask.
Surely there must be painful times ahead if TUI are to remain financially sound.
The issue here in my mind is whether the IT business model is resilient enough to adjust to the changing face of leisure air travel. I feel personally that longhaul package holiday is less attractive to families than a few days in the timeshare and the flexibility offered by the low fares brigade, so in my view, the purchase of the 787 is a courageous decision.
Thomson tried low cost with Tfly in 2004, then quietly dropped it and laid off a lot of good pilots which would seem to confirm that they could not compete with FR/EZY in a low cost capacity and are now going to great lengths to differentiate themselves from the low cost airlines.
Good luck to all at TUI, if they've got it right this time, then they truly are one of the few remaining companies worth joining, hopefully the leisure travel market is not too crowded and can support both IT and low fare business models. Let's hope they know what they're doing this time round.