Budgie news from the Gulf

[The Trappist]

Been away on sabbatical for a while, however, conversations about a certain Gulf airline with a budgie on the tail are taking on an interesting hue - none of it good! More soonest.

[The Trappist]

So here's a couple of items.
Budgie airline has recently introduced a random breath test for crews; at the end of a duty as well as before the start of it. Think of it what you may, it apparently is seen by many of the people as a way of dividing the expats from the locals. Question: Is it legal? Remember, there are no orginizations in the Gulf to look after staff concerns.
It would seem that the feeling is that there is almost no possibility of ever having a true and full account of the A320 accident ever published and management are hoping that, by burying their collective heads in the copious sand available, people will forget it ever happened!
Talk is that the company is almost in freefall with no way to withstand the inroads of other airlines set up by the individual states with a holding in budgie air. Sale/lease of two A340 and two A330 aircraft is rumoured accompanied by a reduction in route structure.
Watch this space!

[Flier Tuck]

Can someone tell me, does the traditional Bottle to Throttle 10 hour rule equate with a requirement to produce a score of 0mgs for a Breathylser Test? In other words on a min rest period of,say,12 hours does taking a beer mean that the white coats who are now greeting us in Briefing may well have cause to nail up another stuffed head on their wall of shame. I've been coping adequately with the responsibility of not drinking and flying for 30 years. And now this?

[excess baggage]

the breath test is a bit worrying really, as it states clearly in the sep manual that acohol takes at least 24 hrs to clear out from the system. maybe they should re-think the rule of 10 hrs prior to duty to stop drinking....
have heard that loads of people have been caught out already......

[BAE146]

are they also going to test for the "hubbly-bubbly" smokers?

[OmanOne]

boys, boys, do you really BELIIIEVE that?!!! anyway, when it comes to drinking some of the locals can afford to spend more on Booze than the expats! for what concerns the company's financial state, airlines are known from time to time to adapt their fleets and network to market requests...and if you are in this line of businnes, you should know this!!!