Originally Posted by
Romasik
I see it’s actually coming this time, although couple of years ago it didn’t look possible. Push from the highest level is strong. Plus CCQ which makes things naturally faster.
There may be some short time backtrack when they see aircraft parked because of the crew shortage, but the general direction is clear and technlogy for that is already around. First officers will definitely go first, followed by seniour captains (offered 40k basic salary contract or just restricted by age), then the rest.
It’s already happening. New low basic salary contract is offered at least to seniour captains and it’s only one year long despite proposed two. You cannot plan to stay in this job beyond one year horizon.
Consider also the general Saudi economic downturn and new more efficient companies on the market.
It’s time to pack bags. Saudia glorious expat story is history...
I think that it's very difficult to understand what they really want. Certainly they want to Saudiize the company as soon as possible. However I don't think that Saudia can produce more that 100 or so new Captains each year. The company currently receives one new aircraft every 10 days, each requiring 8-10 Captains. They also want to expand Flyadeal to 50 aircraft by 2020. They do need the Pilots they have.
I believe that there has been a lot of frustration in senior management with the expat Pilots regarding the Riyadh base. They see a lack of cooperation. A lot of apartments in Riyadh, rented by Saudia are unfilled. There is also frustration over the number of applications to Flyadeal.
In the end, my opinion of the way the Management are thinking is that the contract Pilots currently employed are either at the wrong base or in the wrong company. Saudia have enough Saudi "Saudia" Pilots based in Jeddah, they don't require contract Pilots for that role.