Current Situation at GB Airways - Hiring?

[Riker]

Anyone know the status of GB Airways and their hiring plans? I am aware that they replaced all of their 737-400s with A320s and A321s.

I've heard GB described as an IT carrier with a schedule. That sounds like an "ideal" situation - you get to hit the major sunny destinations year-round as well as the ski resorts (Salzburg and Innsbruck) in the winter. Questions:

1. Do GB pilots actually get tired of these destinations or would it be as great as it sounds?

2. What about layovers - do you get to spend any time at these destinations or are you home every night?

3. What about night flying?

4. What are the positives and negatives of flying for GB?

I have tried to conduct a search but I can't find anything for some reason (typed GB Airways into Search function and I am getting no result on my end - not sure if it is my computer).

Cheers

[Craggenmore]

from GB's web site today.................

GB Airways currently employs 184 Flight Crew. Our pilots are based at London Gatwick, London Heathrow and Manchester, operating a fleet of A320’s and A321’s.

We would like to invite applications from pilots that meet the following criteria:

A minimum of 2000 hours total time to include 1500 commercial jet time.
JAA ATPL
MCC Qualified
Right of abode in the EU
To apply please forward your CV to: [email protected]. Please do not call with enquiries regarding your application. We will confirm receipt of this by letter.

Thank you for applying.

[beauport potato man]

Riker,

GB certainly actively recruited this year, with a course about start it's line training this weekend.

I've been offered a job on the A320/A321 starting next year along with a few others.

As i haven't started yet i can't answer your Q's, but i was told that the nightstops are few; faro, malaga and a couple of morrocan destinations i think.

I guess, given the average sector length, that most days are just two sector days with you being back at home every night.
I've never heard anyone say a bad word about GB, they seem to be a small, efficient outfit, slowly expanding, with a happy workforce, and a fairly short time to command.

Sounds great doesn't it?!

Perhaps er82 (although she is now operating under a new guise now....) can help you further.

Good luck

BPM

[Autobrake Low]

Beauport - how can you leave that wonderful jet you currently fly?
No coal reqd on theA320!

[ray von]

Hi guys..

I've been at G.B. for some time now.. and.. like you thought it would be a good move. It isn't.

Lots of VERY unhappy pilots being worked hard and treated VERY badly by some of the management.

They do night flights, Malta overnight, back 7:00 am then report again later that same day to do another night Malta. Mine was preceeded by 2 earlies then followed by a 4 sector day. 4 sector days are common place.

Also, G.B. are said to be starting Sharmel Sheik (excuse spelling??) with a there and back..!! no night stop.

You will work with a lot of nice crews and get lots of hours on relatively new A320/21's.

Do not think I will stay any longer than I have to...

[er82]

Ray Von

Quite sad to hear you say that. Haven't heard a peep of people being fed up with it all. Certainly having come from an airline where folks were worked really hard for little reward, GB seems far far better.

Guess I'm not in much of a position to give a really good view of it all yet, but so far it's all going swimmingly and am loving every minute.

[Cruise Alt]

Ray Von

2 Nights followed by a 4 sector. You should check your CAP371 and report it to the CAA. Night flights can only be followed by another night or a day off. Perhaps you didnt mention that. Sounds like a typical charter roster to me.

[longarm]

"2 Nights followed by a 4 sector. You should check your CAP371 and report it to the CAA. Night flights can only be followed by another night or a day off. Perhaps you didnt mention that. Sounds like a typical charter roster to me."

Can you tell me where CAP371 states this?

[Boeing 7E7]

So no different to any other airline then. Good luck to all those that join.

[Cruise Alt]

Longarm, I stand corrected. I Guess my employer is being generous, I thought our rules were 371. Having checked a block of nights only needs 34 hours break from early, late or night duties - that would be a tough week. My apologies.

[ILS26L]

Was rostered the following:

Day 1 OFF
Day 2 OFF
Day 3 C/I 2145(L) LGW-MLA
Day 4 MLA-LGW OFF DUTY 0555(L)
C/I 2145(L) LGW-MLA
Day 5 MLA-LGW OFF DUTY 0555(L)
Day 6 C/I 0630(L) LGW-SVQ-LGW OFF DUTY 1410(L)
Day 7 C/I 0700(L) LGW-BIA-LGW OFF DUTY 1310(L)
Day 8 OFF
Day 9 OFF
Other block of 5 on after that followed by 2 off

Comments on legality of this would be appreciated.

[Riker]

Thanks for all the replies thusfar. Sounds like typical viewpoints of most of the carriers out there - some people enjoy them and some hate them. Clearly where you come from prior to GB can make a difference - if you come from a really bad situation then anything looks great...

From my perspective, if you compare GB to Easy then GB's schedules are an improvement based on all of the negativity around the consecutive earlies. I hear very few positives related to Easy in general.... If you compare GB to BMED, GB's night flying seems quite tame because BMED flies a lot of night flights. If you compare GB to the IT carriers, GB at least provides a relatively set schedule vs. non-existent schedules at the IT carriers (especially during the summer).

There seem to be no airlines with "ideal" working conditions - besides maybe the Beach Fleet at VS (744). BA pilots work very hard (especially on short haul), IT carriers seem to be slave drivers too. So, I suppose you should take the good with the bad when considering different opportunities and never expect a perfect situation - just try to find an opportunity the fits your interests and is not too objectionable...

Look forward to more opinions on GB and appreciate the insight already provided.

[kishna]

I think this is the section from CAP371 that you need to be familiar with regarding night flights

Late Finishes/Early Starts
7.1.1 The conditions set in this paragraph only apply when a crew member is
acclimatised.
7.2 Sleep deprivation, leading to the onset of fatigue, can arise if a crew member is
required to report early for duty, or finishes a duty late, on a number of consecutive
days. Therefore, not more than 3 consecutive duties that occur in any part of the
period 0100 to 0659 hours local time can be undertaken, nor may there be more than
4 such duties in any 7 consecutive days. Any run of consecutive duties (Late Finishes
or Nights or Early Starts) can only be broken by a period of not less than 34
consecutive hours free from such duties. This 34 consecutive hours may include a
duty that is not an Early, Late or Night duty.

k

[Mr Angry from Purley]

ILS26
The roster is legal because the day 7 check in of 0700LT is not an "early" (by 1 minute). However rostering of nights into earlies is deemed to be unsympathetic to sleeping patterns etc. The normal method of Scheduling would be the 2 earlies followed by the two night MLA's.
The other more suitable but currently illegal pattern would be to allow for 4 consecutive nights but CAP371 does not allow it. This would allow the Pilot to get into night "mode". Currently EZY have a much debated variation to allow 4/5 earlies on the bounce, hopefully at some stage in the future (EASA Sub Part Q) some common sense and flexibility will be allowed on the early/late rules, supported of course by Pilot agreement / sleep & fatigue studies etc as i've been told by many a crew in the past they would prefer that style of scheduling

:\ :\

[Riker]

HORKA,

Either you are an idiot or you are very presumptuous.

I am well aware that GB is a franchise of BA. When referring to BA shorthaul I was referring to another post in which a BA Airbus pilot talked about his busy existence at the bottom of the seniority ladder. I clearly know the difference.

And I'm not spinning GB one way or the other. I was merely stating that you can probably find positives and negatives at every airline. I hear good things and bad things about GB, BMED, Easy, Ryanair, BA, etc.

This thread was merely asking for opinions on GB. If you can't provide one, then simply skip the thread... Is that asking too much?

[P-T-Gamekeeper]

I sent in a CV in reply to their website, and received a nice reply saying they had completed the current round of recruiting.

It seems the website hasn't been updated, or they were just being polite.

[Major Cleve Saville]

Until 18 months ago GB was about the best of the bunch. Now it is just another cr*ppy airline like the easy, ryan's etc.

The top level of flight ops. management is about as incompetent as it gets, result: Roster instability, cancelled flights, low morale etc. with no light at the end of the tunnel.

95-100 hours in 28 days is pretty standard, with the t0sser responsible phoning you on your days off to beg you to help him out of the hole he created!

Best avoid it until it improves!

[Harry Wragg]

I think ALL of aviation should be avoided until it improves, not anytime soon, probably about the same time hell freezes over. I think that all companies are now reaching the same levels of mediocrity. Take your pick.

Harry