I am One Norwegian.
I joined this airline because I thought that it was different.
Not blue and yellow, not orange or any other low cost colour you might think of.
Because I thought that Scandinavian values and culture ran right through the company.
I was promised that after 2 years on an agency contract, I would get a Scandinavian one or its equivalent.
It was a lie.
Over 4 years later I find myself working for a company that I never asked to join.
Working for directors and managers that I would never have chosen to work for.
In those years terms and conditions have not been improved.
Not a single thing.
In fact, quite the opposite. New conditions turn up buried in newsletters. I have my life disrupted regularly because the company that refuses to employ me messed up its calculations. I see colleagues unhappily working on board wet-leased aircraft of a standard way lower than we expect.
I see safety reports go unanswered for months, safety reports that are answered with a meaningless template, I see an AOC that refuses to engage with the crew who operate its planes.
I am One Norwegian. Part of a fractured and dysfunctional family of parts that don't co-operate or communicate.
I am One Norwegian reading propaganda on the company Orwellian intranet.
I see great words and ideas written and then see actions that show me something different.
I see a senior management, full of big expansion plans and exciting opportunities, that have become completely disconnected from the reality outside of their own office.
I see the creeping edge of a culture of fear slipping under the door - a tool to be used by those who have created a mess and now have no idea what to do about it.
I am One Norwegian who could be a part of a highly motivated team, full of enthusiastic support and energy for the future of the company.
I am One Norwegian?
I have realised that I am not One Norwegian.
One Norwegian is a hollow promise, an illusion created by THE One Norwegian to blind and deceive us. It is the Emperor's New Clothes.
I am just a crew number.
A part in a machine to be pushed around as the company wishes.
But my work done in that machine will be the very minimum.
Just a pale shadow of what it could be.
And I won't be rushing around either.
My contract will be fulfilled, but nothing more.
Flight schedules and being on time are no longer important to me.
My job will be done thoroughly and safely without regard to how long that takes.
It will always take me 90 minutes to report on a standby call out.
Non standard report times will not be accepted.
Taxiing will be comfortable for my passengers, I will not turn corners quickly or ask for short cuts on the way to the runway.
Fuelling will be monitored and full briefings will be given.
When deciding on the fuel, I will be extra cautious when deciding my fuel uplift.
Minor items will be recorded in the tech log regardless of where I am and flights will stay at the ATC allocated flight level.
In one hundred different ways I will not make any more effort than I need to. If it's not in my contract then I won't do it.
Maybe nobody will notice.
But, although I may not be One Norwegian, I am One of Many.
One of the many that Norwegian will need if it wants to make its plans work.
Perhaps, instead of One Norwegian, we need Team Norwegian.
Where people are treated as a valuable resource instead of an inconvenient expense.
Until then, I will remain what the company has made me.
An uncared about crew number. Unmotivated and uncaring about a company that turned out to be a huge disappointment.
I could be One Norwegian, but my leaders only want a cheap seat filler.
I could be One Norwegian.
But instead I am just one more pissed off pilot.
Updating his logbook and CV, ready to move on....