I quite like the way that Jet2 communicate. They are straight talking with no BS. Having spent years listening to corporate crap at my previous outfit it’s rather refreshing.

They may be great at communicating with their customers, perhaps less so with their pilots -

(from BALPA)Dear Colleague

No doubt, you would now be aware of what many are calling a complete betrayal of pilots.

It was brought to our attention late yesterday that other groups of employees within the company are getting their pay increased towards pre-covid levels. This is despite the Company Council being told that there is no further funding available for us to increase from 70% for the foreseeable future.

It means that, for instance, all managers will be on 90% of their pre-covid salaries, engineers 92% and cabin crew on up to 100% which will push them towards a second officer’s current salary.

To add further insult, these increases will be back-dated to 1st June.

It is extremely frustrating that we closed the ballot on Friday, advised the company of our acceptance on Friday afternoon and then on Monday (the next working day) hear of pay increases to most other groups of colleagues. Certainly not negotiating in the spirit of good faith - during our negotiations we were continually asked to trust the company which ‘wanted to increase pay but couldn’t’.

I think the bit that has been missed out was the pay increase towards but still not at pre covid pay is for those that have been taken off furlough. I understand the predicament - but we could have all just been paid 80% furlough / max £2500 per month and reducing. The company gives us a pay rise every year when the going is good - so only fair we give some back when the going is tough - I know I would be willing to take a longer pay cut in order to save my job and get us through to next summer and help us be in the best position possible.

We all want to save jobs of course, but where do we draw the line ?
many pilots have been working full rosters for the entire Covid period but they have not seen any increase in pay, is that fair? Management pilots, already on higher salaries, were never on 70%. They were on 80% and now 90%, is that fair when others who are working (on lower salaries) see no uplift? It’s a difficult balancing act for sure but Jet2 have hit and missed on this one. There is no unity, no leading from the front, no communication, no fairness, no team spirit.
if one were being cynical this could be seen as an opportunistic land-grab at pilots Ts&Cs.

The issue of trainers working full time rosters is one that should be addressed, but there is a problem with the increase of pay for line pilots being taken off furlough. Despite what the pilot group was told last year, who flies and who doesn’t appears not to have been based on experience or years in the company, but by some random selection process probably based on whose ratings were still current at the end of the first lockdown. There has been no transparency from the company as to who was selected, who will be selected, or any time scale, and no word about moving people in and out of furlough to get more people flying, so it would be very unfair to have some line pilots on lower salaries through the whim of the training department.

The other topic, of pay returning to pre Covid eventually is another issue. The current 70% is now almost exactly where the full salary was in 2015. Since then the company has given year on year pay rises not through any form of altruism, but simply because people were leaving, and with expansion and the supply of pilots generally pay had to increase to attract and retain people. Sadly, for the next few years that is unlikely to be the case, and I’m planning my finances with a view to having this sort of income for a couple of years, assuming I’m lucky enough to have a job when the furlough scheme ends.

Jaf4fa

I really hope so, but it's a long time between June and November, long enough for a couple of new "variants of concern", a (would it be?) 4th wave, a bit of pressure developing in the NHS from a double whammy with seasonal flu and I can see the government re-imposing restrictions, and perhaps restrictions on British travellers not being relaxed quite as we may wish by foreign governments.

It isn't over until the fat lady sings, and she hasn't really cleared her throat yet. Fingers crossed though, the airline and foreign travel industry surely can't withstand much more of this.

Jaf4fa

Of course, you are assuming that there will be somewhere on the UK green list to fly to this winter. So far the only place's that Jet2 fly to on the Green List are the Balearic Islands, Malta and Madeira. Of those the Balearic and Madeira are on the watch list, so could go to Amber at any time, bit like Portugal really and Malta you need a hard copy of your vaccination status supplied from the NHS directly, not a pdf copy. Then there is the politics that Merkel and friends are planning over letting UK passengers in to Europe.

I would not bank on anything substantive this winter happening for any British airline, if you look around Europe, flights are returning to normal and passenger levels are increasing, of course that won't help Jet2, other airlines that are UK based have Europe to help them, TUI and Easy for example.

Jet2 who in the past have had a exemplary customer service department are increasingly under fire, a quick look on Jet2's twitter feed and other social media shows many customers getting rather fed up.

I hope I am wrong, but I cannot see anything improving this year for the UK Aviation industry, its going to be a long cold winter.

Engineers have worked painstakingly since the beginning of covid to make sure aircraft are kept to a top level of airworthiness. Even when in storage. All have been on reduced salary of different levels, and are absolutely shattered after the constant physical work, and mental battering during the pandemic. Now that things seem to be slightly easing, it ramps up again.

Might be worth taking off the rose tinted aviators and see there may be logic behind departments getting some relief before others......

True, SOME engineers have. However, with clear aviators applied I can assure you that sim trainers have been working harder than pre-Covid times throughout the entire lockdown period. I don’t understand your aggressive reply, this is about everyone being treated equally, quite rightly the engineers deserve an increase but so do the pilot trainers that have been flat out. Perhaps you should apply some eye-wash to remove that skydrol that’s clearly affecting your vision :)

Some positions going forward will be harder to fill in the current climate so the company wants to keep those people, others are going to be easier to fill and pilots are probably one of those so you can see from the company position why they may be doing it this way.

Trouble at mill.

Of course Stonejo it could all depend on what the requirements for Pilots will be in the near term. If Jet2 were to rid themselves of the remaining 7 or so 73 Classics and the 757's, they would need a lot less crew. Of course it would dent their expansion plans, but after the last 15 months or so, who could blame them for taking a very conservative approach

Fortunately for everyone except Brian, who does appear to wish jet2 troubles despite his declaration, there is no indication that they are accelerating plans to retire the 757 or 733, and instead have been investing in fitting satcom, ACARS etc for when they start operating them again. Reduction in capacity has occurred by not having the normal summer leases from companies like Titan, Airtanker, etc.

That doesn’t mean that they won’t be making more reductions of fleet or staff, but there is no sign of it at the moment, and they have made a large investment in staff by making up salaries during the pandemic so far, which would be odd if down sizing was the aim.

To me J2 have just been going with the flow. When the government is picking up the salary they can just breeze along. Now that furlough is being reduced we may see some inevitable reductions in staff, sorry to say. One can show a positive view but let's not kid ourselves there is more pain for us in aviation.

I only have figures for the salary of a captain, because that’s what they pay me, but the government furlough money (which is capped at £2800) is significantly less than they have been paying me to do nothing for the last fourteen months. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to reduce salaries further for crew who aren’t flying over the winter once the government money stops, but if they seriously believe, as they say, that next summer will be busy then redundancies at the end of September make no sense; by the time they have a 30 day consultation period and then four months notice it will be the end of February, and then they would have to be hiring and putting people through OCCs and attending a shed load of tribunals. It might happen, but let’s hope it doesn’t, and let’s also hope it doesn’t at Tui, EasyJet, Ryanair, Virgin etc etc as well.

Well said Excrab, completely agree.

I would comment that any talk of pay rises, however deserving they may be, during a period in which airlines are fighting for their very survival, belong in cloud cuckoo land.

So that's me told then, excrab, no I don't wish any ill to anyone, but for those of us who don't live in the peoples republic of Yorkshire or God's Country, as some call it, everything is not rosy, in fact it is damned well precarious.
As overheard in a Washington DC Bar. "Truth is like poetry.....and most people hate poetry"

I wish you well, I remember the Channel Express days well, they were fun, but I am very glad I left that all behind many years ago.

New Fleet arrivals
 

Jet2 are clearly looking to the future with one new arrival to the fleet (G-DRTP) and another due (G-DRTP).

Unless I am mistaken, isn't that the same one?