the chief Ryanair spokesman is quoted as saying 'we do not operate zero hour contracts'.
I wonder how he defines 'zero hour contract'. No fly = no pay and no paid holidays. It walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, smells like a duck............
There was a judge who previously, in a case against RYR, labelled the defendants as "not credible witnesses." This quote sounds similar.
Back to the shortage question. It takes 2 months for a TR course. It then takes another couple of weeks for base training and then another 2-3 months to complete Line Training, if there are enough LTC's, and that's debatable no doubt. The recruitment process takes a few weeks. So, for any cadet wanting to be on line as a released line pilot (and remember there is probably a safety pilot also for the first couple of weeks) the whole process could take 6-8 months. April 2018, i.e. the summer program, is 6 months away. Assuming there are more airframes arriving before then the training demand for F/O's & new captains could well be greater than the training dept can supply. It is possible to calculate that now, well in advance. It is also known how many pilots & cabin crew have handed in their notice or retired, and it can be estimated how any will leave within the next 12 months to the end of summer 2018.
From the outside this does not seem a 6 week problem. Plus, flying during leave might not solve the hours and FTL's issue. And the amount offered, net after tax, is derisory when set against the amount that could be saved for the company. But, IMHO, this is a problem that will extend far into the future. There are not enough trees to shake with enough desperate monkeys in them.
The T's & C's that need to change would I'd have thought include: proper employee contracts; proper paid leave system; proper salary not hi% in flight pay; proper pension scheme base on 50-66% premiums of actual income; proper basing scheme where people want to live & work; proper out of base rosters all duty time with travel & costs paid; no self-funding of mandatory simulator sessions; travel & hotel costs paid during those sim sessions; travel & hotel costs paid during command upgrade courses; etc. etc. OMG that sounds like most of the other airlines. IMHO that is too much to happen, but it is what the competition offers. For one who lives by markets forces you can also be hurt badly by market forces. MF's affect workers as much as customers.
Last edited by RAT 5; 21st Sep 2017 at 12:44.