In a spin?
 

Well Flappy Wings, your statement is correct on all fronts.

It’s not a pity to watch, its’ an absolute travesty, particularly when so many people’s livelihoods and careers will be lost or destroyed. And it’s not entirely true that as a company they don’t care about those that work here, because over the past few years I have seen the management’s compassionate side on several occasions, especially during family crisis’s.
In the past few years there has been approx 9 SFO’s & 11 Capt’s resigned from the Airbus fleet alone? This is mainly due to the development and progression in their careers being held back by the training Dept and those they influence. There are too many influences within this organization that have been in senior management positions for too long and have not strived for greater development of the company and those that are trying to be part of it. Instead they have built their own little Empires, feathered their own nests and placed themselves in untouchable positions. Luckily some of them have now left the company, but just looking at what’s going on now, these guys are still fleecing the company one way or another. ( jobs for the boys? )

I personally have never come across a training manager with so much influence? So it’s either CD’s way or the highway!! There has been several very experienced Capt’s and F/O’s that are totally astounded by the way training is done, especially since their experience and abilities are always slapped down as soon as they arrive here. ( great CRM )
Anyone who dares to pass comment are immediately blacklisted as rogue elements and banished to the eternal damnation ( or night Darwins )? All this is very sad, as there is some great trainers within the company that are trying to do the right thing but are also afraid for their own positions to speak out.

I just hope the new CEO recognizes where the problems are and sets plans to rectify them before it is too late or the demise will happen.

Brunei possesses an airline too large to be entirely staffed by locals, the population base is insufficient to produce all the skills required, even Singapore can't do that, much though it would like to, and so expats are required to make up the shortfall in some trades. As the rewards for working in such a tedious little jungle miles from anywhere are so poor these days, and plenty of other jobs are available, the only long term foreign residents are liable to be a) rather odd, and b) less than top drawer material. The Malay Brunei locals do not have an outstanding reputation for industry or decision making, and expat career structures are of little concern to them. The actual state of the outfit is someone else's problem lah. Considering the wealth of the place, especially with the current oil price, is the rest of Brunei's infrastructure in such sparkling condition that RBA is the only exception? Look around you! Do the locals really care? Will anything ever change? I doubt it, that's why most sensible people take what they need from the place, be it relief from unemployment or widebody experience, and quietly move on to greener pastures whilst the doors are open, in our game they can close again with alarming rapidity. As for some form of industrial action, go-slow etc, is Brunei such a democratic, union influenced nirvana that that kind of behaviour would be happily tolerated. About two years ago, an experienced, generally well-respected captain was summarily dismissed for no discernible reason, and the court case for compensation is still to be heard despite strenuous efforts! Expat workers have little status, be they captains or amahs, so accept the place as is or leave, things aint getting any better!

xrba
 

Xrba what are you on !!

“The only long term foreign residents are liable to be a) rather odd, and b) less than top drawer material.”

From what I can gather the latter comment just about sums you up!!

If it wasn’t for some of us long term foreign residents this place would have been on its knees years ago, most of the long term foreign residents have just flown through BA 777 courses( no pun intended) and many of the boys when they do leave do so for better jobs. Trust me some of us long term residents are being offered very good jobs but most of us are hoping that this new CEO might just might have the Balls to change things. If he doesn’t then god help him it will bite him in the A**E this time! :=:=

xrba
 

Well said. Brunei really is for the Brunei Malays. The people of Brunei put up with expatriates because there is a job to be done that really does not interest them in the least.

In summation; go to Brunei, enjoy the life style doing what you think you do best and when you or the Nationals have had enough, clear off back to where you came from or move on to the next 'gig'.

Again, well said.

icom, you are probably correct, the place would have been on it’s knees years ago but for some of you long term expats, just don’t expect to be paid properly, or even thanked for your efforts. Is Brunei inc. a registered charity then?
As for pilots with thousands of hours on the 767 passing a 777 course, it would be an absolute disgrace if they didn’t! It is hardly the sternest challenge in aviation for them to fly through a course that many are surprised Boeing couldn’t arrange to be a common rating from the UK CAA. As for oddities, have you visited the training department recently, [much discussed on this thread]. Possibly you already work there, so can see nothing amiss. Still, why not strike the 767 fleet office a glancing blow to reinforce my surmises, although that has been improved slighty of late by the removal of one of the funnier [not haha] ones some time ago.
It will be an event of biblical proportions if the new CEO manages to achieve anything in Brunei. Many others, much vaunted, with similar backgrounds have tried to little effect. After 38 years of the aviation business is he really going to be worried if his efforts fall on stony ground, or will he pick up 3 years of good contract money to top up his pension [there, someone is well paid in RBA!] and slide off into the sunset, untroubled by what is left behind? I certainly would not be putting my faith in him, or his balls, or god helping him, or his A**E being bitten by anyone, when jobs are temporarily available in outfits with better terms and conditions, but still, I’m probably just a cynic who doesn’t put his trust in you, or any blandishments from the management. Cold cash will do me nicely thank you.
Any comments about the other points I raised in my missive? For example it would be nice to see some movement in the forthcoming, and long awaited, court case, but I have my doubts. Too many skeletons in that particular cupboard.

xrba
 

Xrba, you seem about as well informed about RBA as our ex CEO was with regard to 777s, he to driven by money and not facts!! Whilst not wishing to get into a slanging match with you about RBA, it does have its problems, I am not a trainer I am a professional and would not wish to be associated with a very out dated department, I pull my own socks up, with help from other experienced professionals, but RBA still attracts very experienced pilots, in the last year alone 6 easyjet capts onto the Airbus, one a trainer. One x CP(BA outfit) and CTC trainer and one trainer from a loco Sin outfit. Most of these pilots choose to come to RBA no gun held to head and all of them had a choice of other carriers to go to, not last chance saloon or given some C**P gen from a contract Agency(another topic in my opinion). The lifestyle is still good if not better than elsewhere and money is easy to save, my wife can’t even spend it here as no good shops here perfect!!:=

As for Nclicho Moja come out from behind xrba and say something useful!!:=

icom
 

OK. If you or any one else for that matter dislike to conditions or happenings at RBA don't let the door bang you in the back-side on the way out.

Plain enough?

ndicho moja
 

Ndicho Moja read the post I never said I dislike it here infact just the opposite.:cool: Thats why I am still here!

Well said Flappy wings,
I agree there are worse places to work other than Brunei and if we are all so unhappy then vote with our feet, but we are Professionals and as a result, why sit back and watch something fail so miserably. This company needs people in strategic positions that know how a modern airline works and what’s required to keep it going. The training department is run by someone who's 20yrs behind with current practice and needs to go, before he does anymore damage. How many more good people have to leave because of this guy and his outdated thinking and oppressive regime.

Brilliant Training Material
 

Sorry , I dont work at RBA but as a Flight Training Manager with over 31 years experience, I cannot disagree more with your assessment of CDs training system.It is exceptional in all aspects.Other FCTMs I know who have looked at it agree, its of the highest calibre.Well balanced, thorough, and easy to follow, certainly in line with current thinking.You are obviously not in the know about modern flight training thinking.

CD is not compact Disc ...........;)

I agree with the previous comments about CD as a trainer, during my time I found him OK, straighter than most, although he did show incipient signs of long-term-residency syndrome [going troppo it used to be called] with his infamous “Dive into DXB” and other tricks. However, is the latest in the line of Great White Hopes really going to be concerning himself with the vagaries of the training regime or pilot rosters when there might just be more pressing concerns for him given the current state of RBA? I hope he does for everyones’ sake, there is no-one else to do it, just don’t hold your breath waiting.

I am amazed that any well qualified pilots are willing to join, or remain in RBA for the current salary, which must be one of the lowest anywhere, usually it is one of the major attractions of the expat job to compensate for the privations of the place. Saving on it these days must put one in line for the AB trophy! He was proud of living on BND700 a month, but very quietly! In my day the wives solved the shopping problem simply, it was called 421/429. Best not tell them about Staff Travel!!

Let’s hope that when the current worldwide hiring band stops playing that there are seats for all who might like to sit down elsewhere.

Locals DO care, more than you think we do.
 

xrba
-The Malay Brunei locals do not have an outstanding reputation for industry or decision making, and expat career structures are of little concern to them. The actual state of the outfit is someone else's problem lah. Considering the wealth of the place, especially with the current oil price, is the rest of Brunei's infrastructure in such sparkling condition that RBA is the only exception? Look around you! Do the locals really care? Will anything ever change?

Ndicho Moja
-The people of Brunei put up with expatriates because there is a job to be done that really does not interest them in the least.

Your assessment of Brunei Malays as lacking in industry and decision-making, has shown your outright arrogance and ignorance during your stay here. Are you saying our main shareholder, His Majesty, who is a Brunei Malay, has these traits? If you've been in Brunei, you would know that things have changed a lot in the last 15 years. Under His Majesty's guidance, infrastructure and support has improved.

I'm a Brunei Malay pilot and have been with the airline for nearly 15 years. My family and friends are here in Brunei, this is home. Unless i resign and leave, i'll still be here for another 30 years.
20 years from now, when most of the expat pilots have left, i will still be here insya-Allah. We locals DO care and we DO give a damn about this airline.

Having said that, my local counterparts and i, do welcome the experience of expats in RBA. Variety after all, is the spice of life.
10 years ago, we only had 20 odd locals and now our numbers have increased to over 70. No doubt, the numbers will increase in the next 20 years. So do you think these 70 plus locals DON'T care?

When you are sipping your beer cans by your pool in Spain, Sydney or wherever you'll end up retiring, we will still be here. The airline that is in chaos will still be here and it will be OUR PROBLEM.

Yes, there are many problems in RBA. Not just in Flight Ops but elsewhere too. But since you guys have so many complaints about Flight Ops and RBA as a whole, why not give a more constructive solution rather than blasting names.

Yes, CD's man-management skills has a lot to be desired for but let's not forget the man puts more work into training than previous FCTM's. (By the by, i'm not one of his clones, i'm just a line pilot who still has hair)
So if CD is not the man to run training, who should run it? And what of SN and the Dalai Lama? Shall we replace them too? Shall we sack everyone who we think are incompetent? Shall we beg for MF and JC to come back since they did a 'great' job before?
Don't just address the problem, come up with a solution.

The problem with these postings is that all you guys ever talk about are you, you and you.

"Oh the Expats are getting hard done by, we should all leave!"

"The locals are incompetent idiots, they don't care, we can do a better job running this place" (Right, just like what our ex-CEO Foster did)

Do you know, when i fly with an expat FO, he's earning more than i am. I would leave and move to greener pastures but i haven't. Maybe it's because i DO care.

Royal BRUNEI Airlines ..... The name has the word Brunei on it. The same Brunei that used to pay for YOUR salary and feed YOUR family.
You were here before, you flew for us, you left and i wish you all the best for you and your family.
So why are you still posting negative threads again on RBA and especially about Brunei-Malays? Because you're grateful? Because YOU care?
Riiiight.

You've obviously left for greener pastures so why not just move on and get on with it. Let the people who are still working for RBA, both expat and local, try their best to work together to get us out of this rut.
If you have a positive comment, it's more than welcome. Negative ones just bring the place down.

The Local Guy
 

Well said could not agree more:D:D

The Local Guy
 

Bollocking accepted. Time for me to move along.

If I have offended you or any one else who reads these postings then I apologise. That was not my intension.

I would like to say though that most of what is said here and else where about RBA is said out of frustration, a strong sense of caring and the desire for a small airline that has all the potential in the world given the right guidance and to succeed. People care. They want the airline to prosper, make profits and provide secure employment.

Salary(package)
 

Having read this post with interest.

Can anyone supply the base fig's of a starting capt, housing,schooling,bonus, annual increments,confirmed leave tickets.
If I have missed it in a previous post-sorry.
Thks in advance :confused:

The Local Guy, many of your points are perfectly valid and I accept any criticism of me that you might have, but because I had many local friends in Brunei when I was there it saddens me to see what could be a good little airline in such strife. You have asked for a more constructive solution, fair enough, but whatever is said will you locals implement it? How many management consultants, advisors, counsellors et al do you need to ask? When I was in Brunei the place was stiff with them in all areas, but the results were usually either ignored if major surgery was required, or happily accepted if nothing too controversial was said. Consultants do know what side their bread is buttered, and are not averse to producing what the client wants to hear. What ever happened to the lengthy, expensive Hay Associates report into RBA then?

Previous local CEOs showed an alarming tendency to concentrate on their own pet projects, [golf course on Crown land, own hotel allegedly with RBA funds etc.] instead of steering the airline, so expats were sought to fix the mess. They had impeccable backgrounds, usually experience of rescuing other problem airlines, and came into the job brimming with ideas, right or wrong, on how to effect the recovery. What happened? They found themselves bogged down in a morass of local intrigue and inertia. After trying for some time to change things and failing, they just accepted the status quo and saw out their contracts as quietly as they could. You now have another new CEO. I hope he can achieve a good result for the locals sake. My constructive solution to the problem, for the little it’s worth, is as follows, but requires a sharp intake of breath.

Brunei has a small population base, for many the only flight they ever undertake is a free Haj, and little to attract mass tourism, [please don't count transit passengers in the tourist total as usually happens!] The competition in the airline industry is intense, none more so than in your area of the Far East. Have you seen the fares recently announced by Air Asia from UK to Australia? Finally, on the horizon, the next generation A350/B787s are supposedly economic flying from UK to OZ non-stop! Sticking ones head in the sand won’t alter these facts.

So what does all this mean? Yes RBA can continue in it’s current size, with soon to be 3 different aircraft types, and it will exist only with vast subsidies to cover it’s losses. Or it can downsize to a realistic level, say 2 or 3 A320s/ B737s [and one type only please] at the very most, on local routes to satisfy the small demand, then it has a chance of actually being viable. You will have at least double the number of local pilots required to crew the airline, with all your own trainers, and massively too many ground staff. Who will decide on the redundancies? Apart from the CEO, and,when the new, slim line RBA is up and running properly, he can go, no expensive bolshie expats need to be used at all. This is of course exactly what the airline was before the 757s arrived, and what a terrific little firm it was, the only difference now is that it would be totally locally run, hopefully to your entire satisfaction! If you need a precedent of a small wealthy country realising that it’s national flag carrier was non-viable, just study what the Swiss did. I am not, however advocating quite such a radical solution as they found, but it has been done before. You seem confident that RBA will still be around in 20 or so years time, I sincerely hope so, but it might just have a better chance in the format I have outlined. Just my 2 cents worth and a bit drastic, but it is intended to be a positive comment.

Best of luck to you.

Just a few thoughts
 

My wife and I lived and worked in Brunei for some four years in the late ‘90’s, met and enjoyed the company of many pleasant people, both local and expatriate. We had a pleasant life style which we enjoyed to the full and were sorry to depart when the time came to go.

My task was to increase the awareness of RBA to the changing international environment that was occurring at the time. Through a lot of hard work by all those who wished to see progress in those areas the European Standards from a Flight Operations and Engineering aspect were reached. It was no easy task but it was enjoyable to see progress bringing positive results and I think that RBA benefited accordingly.

Since that time the situation with regard to the availability of choice and cost for the travelling public have changed, perhaps to the detriment of RBA. By this it is meant that low cost carrier (LCC) philosophies have been adopted within the region by independent, main or off-shoots of the main carriers that operate to similar destinations, but with new, or newer, equipment. Competition is a wonderful thing – weeds out the not so good and promotes the better, to the advantage of all.

So, perhaps the management of such operators within the region has to be smart(er) than ever before, foster good relations within their organisations whilst still trying to make the bottom fiscal line less negative and more positive. To do this, transparent honesty if there is such a thing - in making robust management decisions should be the norm - rather than subterfuge and self serving half decisions.

The purpose of this thread is to suggest, from a distance and after reading the comments made that show more reliance on gripes than by trying to change - or influence change, to alleviate situations which are less than pleasant, by face to face discussions. Perhaps this has been attempted with little effect but rather than let a situation develop the equivalent of CHIRP, to the DCA could be used and may ensure that a particular gripe can be heard by someone other than management of RBA. One never knows, pressure may be brought to bare where it is needed.

Just a thought.

Well said
 

Nkosi

Although much of what you say has merit, DCA may not be the place to bear pressure???, Generally the line maintainance and line flying is quite good,me thinks pressure needs to bear on management and the board members, to make them accountable for there inept decision making...How can this be done????

The Local Guy

While also what you have written is good and true, and you recongise that the Airline has major problems...Why dont you also help yourselves????Why dont you help effect a change that will benefit you now and also in the long term???

Looking for that CONSTRUCTIVE solution.??

One way, perhaps, to a solution
 

What to do and ‘how can this be done?’. You pose a question which I suspect many people have also, but how about this for a suggestion;

Put together an articulate plan, some may even say a ‘business plan’ that has been prepared by end users – the line pilots. Make the plan as simple as possible but well thought out that puts into perspective the main problem areas with how the authors of the plan would address those problems. The plan should not involve personalities, just the problems and the suggested solutions. If necessary make it an academic exercise

Put that plan to the CEO who, if he had the knowledge of the ground swell of discontent in an articulate manner may, (one hopes) take action, or at least have the capacity to take action.

But it is so easy to pontificate from a distance.

All, or most battles are hard to win
 

5man

I think the situation in RBA regarding the disharmony between management and line pilots is understood (but from a distance) and what appears to be a futile way of going about trying to correct an imbalance between management and pilots, (or anyone else for that matter). However, without the attempt of correcting that imbalance in a constructive way then there is no chance of any form of a successful outcome, albeit minor.

Turn things Around?
 

It will be very difficult for anyone to turn your company around, when for years it has been used as a recruitment ground for all and sundry. At my present company when we arrive on the stand at our home base, we get 1 engineer, perhaps 8 cleaners, 1 pax handler and we still manage to get the a/c turned around in an hour. :ok:
In Brunei, for an Airbus? You will probably get 1 or 2 engineers, 5 or 6 mechanics, 10 or 11 cleaners, 2 or 3 pax handlers ( not that they ever seemed to do anything ) and even then you will still be delayed or something not fixed??:=
Go into the accounts office and there is a whole floor or more of bean counters, the amount you would expect to see in a multinational company with billions of dollar turnover, not a little airline with half a dozen aging a/c. Most of these people seem to be sitting sending endless texts to their friends, eating or finding some reason or means not to do the work they were put there to do.:rolleyes:
This is where the problem starts, it wouldn’t be too bad if everything was running like clockwork, which it should with the amount of personnel that you employ, but the reality is, it’s NOT!!! Of course you’re now stuck with all these people that you can’t do anything else with, you will never be able to make any of them redundant? Just have to keep paying them and making sure there is a good strong signal for their mobile phones.:yuk:
Then you have a Flt ops department that has a management in disarray and not knowing what to try next due to their limited ability and not wanting to lose face by admitting they have got things wrong. They just continue to alienate their staff, with negative criticism and inability to develop people that truly want to help the company thrive and progress.
Look at the number of Captains and very experienced First Officers that have left over the last 18 months and the ones that are about to leave and ask yourself why? It’s easy, the company just don’t care whether they go or not, they still think it’s still easy just to recruit some more. The cost doesn’t matter?? The disruption doesn’t matter?? Nothing seems to matter to this management team? :ugh:
The company I work for now, treats us all as valuable assets, nurturing and teaching us to develop our skills and use them in turn to help the company grow and prosper. And guess what? It’s working, and where will we be getting more of our staff?? :ok:
Good luck RBA.

Easy option
 

I also agree Possum. Sooner they stop being a recruitment agency and get rid of all this dead wood who should never be employed in anything related to aviation the sooner the company will start turning a true profit.

They are just about to lose another few First officers on top of the ones who have already resigned, its time they started at looking at this problem before it gets any worse. How can it be cheaper in the long term to bring in direct entry Captains than invest in First officers who have proved themselves in the system and want to stay?

Brilliant Training Material-I think not.
 

The R N - Have to say it looks good on paper. A closer look however, soon brings new points of view.
Oh, now that brings you into the spotlight, the first symptom of not being a Clone.
Now nobody works harder than CD, and most will say he is a good trainer. However, thats where he should stay.
His tunnel vision and poor hearing in the advice section did cause the BA 777 trainers to remind him that it was they, not him, who had more experience on the 777.
The little training empire that is being built with young and inexperienced pilots, some emotionally immature, should be halted by Ray before it ends in ------

777s already here?
 

Hi there,
Just spotted something this morning -

10:10 BI098 BANDAR GATE OPEN Terminal Three

And was just wondering, are the 772s here or have they just stopped selling tickets on the DXB stop?

I would have to agree totally with the Ping Pongs summary of the CD training system. It is a massively outdated repetitive training method. The measure of success of a training system is gauged by the successful progression of candidates through the system, not by massive amounts of paperwork. Success is a pilot’s ability to handle a wide range of situations in day-to-day operations and show sound situational awareness, not have a training record in CD’s office full of forms with lots of ticked boxes. Local FO’s are currently leaving to take up positions with other airlines because they are deemed not suitable for command upgrade, these are locals that have 7-8 years as FO’s and have been raised under the CD training system. That coupled with the way some incidents have been handled over the last few years defines the failure of the system.
Pilots have limited ability to change the overall business model of an airline; they do however have the right to expect fair and an equitable career progression. The CEO may be cautious to listen to the gripes of pilots, however when the freight apron is full of parked aircraft because all the expats have left as they didn’t want to be CD clones, and the locals are deemed unsuitable for upgrade, someone might ask some searching questions. As said before, Ray remove the man from management and let him train only.

What a Mess
 

I agree totally with Flappy Wings, CD should perhaps just be in a training role without the amount of power that he wields over everyone. At the moment there are some very experienced F/O’s that have been treated in an appalling manner by the training dept and left with no other option than to leave. I personally have worked for other much larger airlines and have never come across a training regime like this one in RBA, especially when you hear that some newly promoted Capt’s have been advised not to trust F/O’s ( as they are out to kill everyone ) by certain Junior Training Capts. Where do they get these guys???:*
What is really annoying is the number of excellent training Capt's who are keen to improve the system and learn from others, only to be slapped down by this megalomaniac and his ego.:ugh:

Subterfuge In Flight Ops
 

NKosi, valid points made from far. Were you there with the lack of transparent honesty of 3 or 4 years ago, and its worse now. Can only comment from ops side but we get our share of eng woes as well.
The High Court case against 3 members of the flt ops management is still on the go.
A while ago some of the paperwork was doing the rounds and it made my skin crawl. The managers involved should have been busted or at the least demoted.
Years back told we had a top draw CAA guy who would have been like CHIRP and been able to expose the subterfuge of the then DFO
The case is going to expose the remaining managers for what they are and bring to public attention how not to manage staff
Ill put my money on at least the Oz press turning up. Bring it on

Tucker Man

I arrived in '97 and left in '02, so you may be able to work out who I am!

Situations change, but honesty and transparency should be evident to all, for most situations - given that there are always commercial in confidence periods. But I advocate that in most cases it is pointless wringing hands and beating breasts, but just to try to sort the problem(s) as they appear, from the lowest to the highest, using the maxims described.

I'll get off my wobbly soap box now.

Cheers

Nkosi

Nkosi, Nothing wobbly bout your soap box. Pity you left so soon.

Thats a big back peddle from some after an anonymous poster CLAIMED to be a local guy.
Would everyone apologise if it was posted by other avid supporters of rba management. I suspect they would have got a blasting.
The locals know there place in rba so will never stand up to management. Never have, never will. A very few did leave to earn better money than the expats that remained in rba.

I hear rumors continue of pay rises and increases in some allowances.
Ha Ha, heard it all before. Fact is by the time they do increase them the amount they are increase will not cover the losses you have all suffered since they were cut 5 odd years ago. Rba has not increased salaries or allowances in 15 or so years. Will the increase (if true) make up for the last 15 years AND the cuts made by the former greedy and inept ceo, Peter f@stor.

Remember he cut the cabin crews allowances. These cabin crew were earning say $800 to $2000 Bnd a month. F@ster was earning $40,000 a month not including his rumoured large bonus if he cut costs. f@stor was earning as much in two weeks as the junior cabin crew were making in a year. That didnt stop him seeking his big bonus. He was unable to increase renenues so he cut staff pay, increments, allowances.

I Hear things are not too good there at the moment. Huge discontent.
A few I know have applied to the company im with. Not the best here but better than rba.

Dont wait for empty promises. Many of those rumors were been spread around back when I was there. The are just empty rumors.

Just back from Dubai, where I saw one of the boys from RBA, also on a layover. G'day M(ate). Hope things work out for youse fellas back there in the Abode of Peace, for it was indeed such a place when I first turned up. I have many good memories of my time in Brunei, though, to be fair, the last few years of my tenure were not that great. Nothing to do with the people. More to do with what I was trying to achieve, and couldn't. It was only when speaking to me mate that I realised how many great people the airline has working for it, still. I tend to forget names at the best of times and, having moved on, the names of those I left behind in RBA have largely slipped my mind these last few years. Wasn't until jaw-boning with 'so and so' yesterday that I realised there are some very sound characters still there. Got a lot to say about that, really. Having come in from a great session of kiting this arvo, I am positively brimming with good will and hope to sprinkle some kind words for you all. Hang in there fellas. It'll all work out in the end.

Local Guy?
 

Local guy express a point of view about the managers, seldom and never in detail.
Whoever you are no matter as you said you care and despite all the hype most of the expats care as well.
But hey guys stand up to the bully boy SN. we aint going to get any progress till this guy gets dumped.
Where do the local management stand. Every day you can see the conflict that this guy starts. When are you going to be heard, dont just leave it up to the expats like me to try and make a positive change.

The local guy made some valid points. He said he really did care about the airlines success or past failures.
His post was very well written. So im sure he has been in to flight ops and talked to the dfo and ceo about his concerns. He has also stood up to the bullies in management and effected a change.

Rba is in more trouble than it realises. Its pay and conditions are some 20 years out of date. Partly due to cuts made by f@ster and also the lack of increases in many years
It has placed certain staff in management postions that are causing irreversible damage. Even if they greatly increased the pay, allowances and conditions, there is still the problem with middle management. CD and SN on the airbus and the other SN on the boeing. I have heard many say these bully individuals are driving pilots away. Some can simply no longer work with these individuals. They cannot be sacked, repositioned or controlled. This is ongoing. The difference now is there are better jobs available. EK are doing road shows. Apparently Aus in short of pilots. There are places to go. i hope the pay increases in Aus. Even at the moment you can earn more in Aus after tax than you can in bwn. EK are looking for pilots although the exchange rate here is getting worse by the week too.

Will more empty promises of pay rises be enough to keep pilots there now more jobs are avaialble world wide.

Bye bye Darwin...
 

Darwin is definately gone from Jan 08,

see the press release
http://www.bruneiair.com/news/item.a...PagePosition=1

What is going on with the 777s, last I heard only the -ER's are ready and sitting in Singapore/Fort Worth... are they still getting the 772A's?
Ive also been hearing rumours they are about to order two 777-200LRs ?!? Would be nice, but I dont think they have the money nor the need for that much range!!
Ah well, at least the 763s will be in the fleet for a little longer ... They are only 1992/3/4 builds aren't they? There are 40+ year old DC9s still flying so !!! ...
Wonder where/when this leased 320/763 is coming from?

Interesting times ahead

Pay ur hotac on ur own credit card?
 

Recently an Airbus crew on the way to SGN were asked to pay for their hotel rooms on their own credit cards as RBA has not payed the hotel for sometime. If its getting that bad is anyone going to lease them any more aircraft when they don't even pay their hotel bills on time? and where are they going to get the airbus crews from.
Just read an article in the prestegious paper the "Borneo Bullsheet" congratulating the airline for being run so well by the locals, just like everything else in Brunei, perhaps its time we left them to it?:{

Accom
 

It's not just SGN.

I understand the company that arranges the hotels for RBA in Aus. is continually complaining of non-payment of accounts. :ugh:

Borneo Bulletin - Dig Deeper - 777 Blunders?
 

Dont you just love the way news leaks out, Mondays paper enlightens us that the next days KL and then SYD canncelled "due to unavoible circumstaces"
How can this be so indefinable. On behalf of the publics interest, how about making a few phone calls, even read Pprune.

777 blunders, millions of $ lost, wasted. A deal rushed through before a new CEO arrived.

Unavoible cicumstances, I think not.

...and there's one green bottle sitting on the wall,
 

Can someone turn the lights off and put the cats out before they leave.:}