I do see and understand your point SK-driver. This is the way forward for SAS to try to survive!
I know a political discussion is not the point, however it does greatly hamper Scandinavien business, specially Norway, I can not speak for all others, as I do not know them that well.
Running a business with people working for you in Norway, is not easy, because the government wants taxes for everything, (Arbeidsgiver avgift) and social expenses are very well taken care off.
I have a close friend who recently moved back from UK after she had a child, because in the UK she would get close to nothing, while in Norway she comes straight back after 4 years studies and a baby, and get handed close to 15.000 kroner a month + part paid apartment! (Overgangs-stonad) - Now she is one of the "lucky" ones, because she is fully qualified with a degree, and will go into work life in due time, however many never will! Why bother, if you get more do nothing!
So of course this does impact on company and our salaries, because we get paid less, so more people can live and do nothing!
However I think one of the main issues SAS have now, is the amount of issues that are mounting ahead of them, increased competition, old fleet, insecure future, personally I would not mind working for SAS myself, but I have seen and talked to few who left companies like Austrian, Euro-Lot, Spanair, Alitalia and few other companies that hit the wall, and many jumped ship before the companies crashed, and for many they had to take a step backwards to get ahead. And your risk going to SAS, and being without a job at any time if things goes pear-shaped with the company.
Few days ago I met a pilot with 4000 hours on MD-80, recently lost his job, was going to pay for his own A320 TR, to make himself more employable!
When I travel I always compare the prices, SAS, BA, RYR, Norwegian and others, and always SAS come out the most expensive, I hate RYR bazars during the flight, so unless they are almost free, I would normally no fly with them, also Torp is NOT Oslo!
So it normally stands between BA and Norwegian, and this again is about price! So SAS have to have loyal customer base who do not just look for price, and maybe they have some key routes that I do not use, where they are the cheapest. But my personal experience with SAS is that altough I would be happy to fly with them, they have not been competitive enough!
Regarding the LHS, sure pilots retiring / leaving, but any new starters will be left at the bottom of the pile, while there are loads already frustrated of have been waiting for long time for the LHS. How long time will it take a new hire to be promoted to the LHS? 4 - 5 years?
I agree about the ME, not tempting prospect for me or my family, the far east however is a different concept, depends of course where you go, I have lived in both Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore in the past, and travelled around Malaysia and Indonesia, and some cities in China, of those places probably would only consider live in Singapore or Hong Kong, if I had a choice!
fightthepower -
if you are making that average 3300 Euros, that would mean you are flying around 460 hours a year, maybe this also depends on various bases, the guys I know are UK based, and they also fly much more than that.
Regarding the tax deductions, if you have a Limited company, almost everything you use in connection with your travel, living expenses while you are abroad is deductible, as long as you can relate it to your job!
Of course you need to keep an eye on this all, to know, but you might as well "spend" the money on items that you do require in connection / relation with your job, so without making fictious bills, you should not really need to pay to much tax, specially if you only making 3300 Euros as you say.
Believe me, it's not that complicated, specially if you have a good accountant that can explain you. I have had a Limited company other business for 10 years, if I saw there was a convention related to my business in as an example LA, I could travel there, visit the convention few times, and at the same time have a holiday, all expenses while away was deductable, as I had a reason to go to this specific destination.
Of course the KEY ISSUE, is that you are not really legally self-employed when you are a pilot working for RYR or any other company, however the problem is that NO government / tax authority has had the balls to challenge this, and take the bulls at the horns to stop all those BS contracts anyway. If they did do that of course, they would make it a level playing field for everybody!
Until than, we have to do the best with the options we do have available, and see what will be best for ourselves.
Last edited by truckflyer; 16th Feb 2013 at 11:27.