GB Losing Pilots

[Iron Hen]

Boo Hoo! some of my favorite pilots have put their notice in - off to pastures new where pay is better or a command is in the offing.

Must fly! :(

[FL310]

this means there will be jobs available at GB....interesting!

[wysiwyg]

I presume you mean they are off to EZY, right?

[Hew Jampton]

Is Slippery Bill still there?

[Flap40]

Just curious - Why do you call him slippery???

(I'm assuming you are refering to someone who is ex Go and Air UK).

[Hew Jampton]

No, not ex Go/Air UK. Don't say there's two of the bar stewards out there!

[Sleeve Wing]

Flap40.
Ask anyone who worked for BMA a few years ago !

;) :)

[LAVDUMPER]

Has GB added many A320s as of yet? If so, how do the pilots enjoy the transition from the B737 to the A320?

Also, roughly how many GB pilots have left for Ryanair or Easy?


Cheers

[Whalerider]

1 x 320 and 2 x321 to da, more to follow.

[B.Navez]

Hey guys,

fun to see, though, that in these hard times there are some people that dont mind taking the risk to leave a company that is running, while so many others are requested - not so kindly (hello ex Citybird pals!!) - to leave theirs with little chance to find something else quickly...

I think I'll hang to my current seat for a while, still!

[Norman Stanley Fletcher]

Lavdumper - up until now not a single pilot has left for easyJet or Ryanair. If this rumour is true then it is the first time it has happened. GB has 4 more Airbuses (All A320s I believe) coming next year to replace 737s.

It is a great company to work for, and at least one pilot I know turned down easyJet to fly Airbuses at GB. If people want to leave then it's one more step up the seniority ladder for everyone else, so there will be no complaints from the boys and girls on the shop floor.

[Reality Checks]

Lets get this straight. Two people have left GB for Go. They went for lifestyle reasons. GB does not offer a Scottish base and are unlikely to do so! Two have gone to Ryanair for anything other than straightforward reasons. As for the rest, they have gone to either BA or Virgin. Losing pilots to these operators is (was?) inevitable.

GB now has one A320 and two A321’s. Starting Feb 2002 we take delivery of another A320 followed by three more during 2002. The B737 fleet will (sadly) be no more by 2003.

This is a difficult time for GB employees. We are a smallish airline and changing a/c types is always going to be problematic. The Flight Deck and Cabin Crew are shouldering the burden of these changes at the moment.

Like any flying crew we have issues with management that need to be resolved and a lifestyle that has to be maintained. This is an ongoing battle and no different from any other airline. However, with an annual hours limitation of 775 and roster stability that most pilots only dream of, GB remains a very good place to fly aeroplanes.

GB makes a remarkable profit bearing in mind its size. It has not, and is not planning to, make redundancies. Quite the reverse, it has taken pilots on since September the 11th. It is also a very good place to be right now and with proper and effective input from our union, should remain so.

PS. Having read this post back I feel it necessary to point out this is not a management post!

[Rumours everywhere]

Interesting thread...

Having spoken to those that have left and gone off to Bonny Scotland, they would have stayed if GB was worth staying for... but quite frankly... it isn't!

A few other points... yes, there is another Slippery Bill in the making, and yes, he is ex KLM UK and Go... I fear that he is in the running to amazingly be WORSE than the original slippery... god help us all.

Reality checks... don't make me laugh. I take it you are on the bus doing nothing as usual, whilst everyone else (737) is doing all the work. 'Proper and effective input from our union'... that is hilarious. They may put in a self-biased input, but they are truly far from effective... how many have given up their BALPA membership in the past couple of years. I don't think you are living up to your namesake.

As far as redundancies go... I know of at least three senior people from the 'office' who have been given their redundancies since Sept 11!

[Norman Stanley Fletcher]

Having read some of these posts, I feel the need to bring some balance. I am a GB pilot and am very happy to be there. The people are good, the training is second to none and, frankly, I am struggling to think of another UK company that can match them. And by the way, I have worked for several other airlines so I do have something to compare GB against - and this is the best job I've had by a long way. You will never please all the people all the time, but to my mind this is as good as it gets in the short or medium haul market. And for what it's worth - the vast majority of pilots working there think exactly the same as I do.

[Big Dog's]

All very interesting Norman-but you can't have been here very long if you didn;t know that several people have left in the past 18 months to go to places like Ryan and GO. Yes it is a great Airline-but that doesn't mean we don't have issues and points which need bringing to the mangement's attention. Perhaps we should all do nothing as Lav suggests, but I don't think it will be such a good place to work in the future if we do.

[Big Dog's]

OOps-I meant Rumours, not Lav-sorry Lav.

[Big Dog's]

Rumours-you are one of many who seem to like slagging off the union without having a clue what they have and are still doing for us.

[Rumours everywhere]

Big Dog's... maybe people like myself would be more aware if the 'union' made the effort to inform people of "what they have and are still doing for us"!!

PS... I said nothing about doing nothing. No idea where you got that from.

Going off on a slight tangent... as ever, the staff are last to know...
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT335EZ0XUC&live=true&useoverridetemplate=ZZZUGORQ00C&tagid=ZZZ1XPDX70C&subheading=uk

[Big Dog's]

Thanks for the blah on the leases Rumours.......I don't think it will affect us though.

On another note-I have emailed Danny once to ask about setting up a private GB forum. I think there are enough of us intersted so I'll talk to him again.

What do you think?

As for the union-great bunch!

[Reality Checks]

Rumours…..just because you disagree with me why do you assume I’m on the Airbus? And why do you do so in such a disparaging manner? If I were on the Airbus and “doing nothing as usual” it would have been the company that put me there and not me seeking to annoy you. Playing devils advocate, if the 737 crews’ are working hard whilst the Airbus crews’ are not, does it not follow that when we have a single fleet we should all be working a reasonable amount? That is where proper and effective input from our union comes in.

It is an old chestnut but the union is only as strong as the number of people behind it.

The point of my post was to suggest that GB is no worse, and certainly much better, than many other operators. No pilot redundancies, no captain demotions and an expansion plan on the table. Of course we must seek to maintain, and indeed improve, our pay, conditions and lifestyle, but we have a good base to start from and I cannot think of any Airline that I would voluntarily go to from GB.

[Big Dog's]

Nicely put mate!

[beau luxe]

Rumours,

Another Slippery in the making! You didn't let him breed did you? Even tho' he can't be a day under 80 by now, you should know better than to give him the merest sniff.

"Its life Jim but not as we know it." :D :D :D