Virgin Atlantic Sydney Base Recruiting Soon

[I Just Want To Fly]

Virgin Atlantic has had a Sydney base for almost 2 years. It is only very small, with about 35 crew. Half of them were from Virgin Blue on an 18 month secondement, but they've gone back now. So there are not many left. They did try to get Aussies already working in London to transfer back, but not many took the offer. So basically, they need more crew.

Apparently they are thinking of recruiting directly in Australia, and are just looking at the legals, salary packages etc.

Crew operate SYD-HKG-SYD with about 16 hours in HKG, just enough to have a little shopping spree or a night out. Training is in London for 5 weeks.

Anyway, just to let you know, and will provide more info when I hear anything. Out of interest, would many of you be interested in something like this.

[apaddyinuk]

16 Hours in Hong Kong? Are you SERIOUS? Thats pathetic.

[smartalec888]

So where can one apply?

[happy pants]

Yes, I'd be up for it.

16 hours... not really enough..., but I'd love to be CC anyway. Anyway... HK is boring after a while.

[I Just Want To Fly]

You're actually on the ground for about 20 hours, but with travel times to and from the airport, preflight briefings and all that, it reduces your time off to about 16 hours.

VS201 - SYD1525 - HKG2155
VS200 - HKG1920 - SYD0735 +1

Stunning A346 a/c
4 SYD crew, 5 LHR crew, 5 HKG incl LHR FSM, LHR CSS and HKG CSS
Pax Loads J=45, W=38, Y=225
Junior crew only work in W & Y.

Allowances in HKG are HK$1500 which is about A$200.
4 - 5 trips per month, so lot's of days off.
Sector pay is A$42 per sector. Plus base salary, which is currently under review, but would be based on standard award wages I presume.

At this stage only internal applications are being accepted, because of contractual issues, but hopefully they will start accepting direct applicants in the not too distant future.

[cabincrewboy20]

hello their i hav recently just returned from living in london and i flew with vigin atlantic and thought they were fantastic and i would be extremelly interested in working for the company from sydney australia !!!!! do u kno if or when they may recruit in sydney ?????? i am extremelly interested in this !!!!

[cali001]

Where can you send a CV??

[KittyBlue]

I was under the impression that the secondment positions from DJ were returning to the fold and that all Dual passport UK crew crew based in SYD were returning home as the base is to be closed.

Most VA secondment crew would be applying for VOz positions.

Slap me if I am wrong?!;)

[AirborneSoon]

Actually that's what I thought would happen too. Since VOz is starting up it would make more sense to just run a Voz plane to HK and codeshare the trip with VAt all the way to London. But then that's just what I assumed would happen and haven't got a shred of evidence to suggest it's true.

Although I also wonder if the original post is likewise unsubstantiated?

[I Just Want To Fly]

Well, that's what I thought, but latest is that they are going to give the Sydney base one more try to make it work, because ultimately the costs of sydney crew are quite good, cause they only have to stay for one night in HKG. Even if it's a temp contract, I'm sure there will be heaps of people interested for the experience.

It might be worthwhile for interested parties to send an email with your CV to show an expression of interest. If they receive enough it might prompt them into expediting this plan.

cali001, check your PMs

[Barbarella1]

The SYD base is crewed by VS crew who have the right to live and work in Australia/New Zealand, all of whom have been VS mainline at one point or another. The DJ secondment is coming to an end, and a 6 month secondment for VS Mainline crew to go to SYD is starting soon.

After this they are looking again at employing local staff, but this is all down to legal working issues in Australia.

VS won't be dropping the HKG-SYD route, it is proving to be one of our best improving routes and very profitable, so when VAustralia starts up they will be concentrating originally on their transpacific routes, but watch this space for PVG/NRT partnerships.

[I Just Want To Fly]

Exactly, I've even on galley FM, that the LHR crew will only operate as far as HKG, and the SYD/HKG crew will operate the HKG-SYD-HKG sectors. But this would mean promotion to FSM for HKG crew, and maybe CSS for some of the sydney boys are girls. but then this is galley fm after all...

[Barbarella1]

This rumour has been going around for years. LHR crew will continue to operate the full LHR-HKG-SYD-HKG-LHR routes, with the current rotation of HKG/SYD crew. There is a rumour of HKG crew getting FSM, although this is highly doubtful unless they start the 2nd HKG now that Oasis Hong Kong have gone bust, although we don't have the aircraft!

The main reason we at LHR will be going all the way to SYD is simply because we are a British carrier, and it's expected from our pax.

[Dolley]

I would be interested if I had the right to live and work in Oz. Saying that if I did, I might prefer Qantas after all ;-)

I would so do it though if they would consider sponsorship!!!

[stx88]

i would love to join.

[VS-LHRCSA]

I was told by VS recruitment that positions are filled internally only.

[ayesha]

:=SLAPPING IS NOT GOOD,INSTEAD DO THIS -:ugh:

[perthie18]

Hi
I Work For Virgin And Have Done For 2 Yers As Crew.

I Am Australian And Desp. To Get A Job As Sydney Crew.

When Are They Recruiting.. Is It A Benefit Working As Vs Crew From London

[perthie18]

oh ok,

i did speak to my manager and she believes that with the 2nd HKG service we will be commencing then it would probably stay open as the hkg crew would be used also for that.

so syd crew are on wat 20-25000 australain dollars.

i dont know anything bout syd base. is there a small team of crew. and only hkg

[CBR_1]

to all of you that do now, or are considering a flying career as crew. Please, i beg of you, do not accept crap pay just because it is something you have always wanted to do. the reason why this used to be such a great job is because you were justly rewarded for what you did - and for those that "want to", let me tell you keeping 180+ passengers happy alone is not an easy task, before the rest of what the job entails comes into question!
so, before you sell your soul to do what it is you think you have always wanted to do, DO NOT accept a base salary below $65k for international and $55k domestic -bare minimum - as all you do is sell out on yourself, AND those already in the industry. if you accept such ****ty pay, then that is where the bar is set. pilots realise this (well, those tha have been around for a while do) and it is about time we stepped up to the plate and told them "what for?" as well.
We work xmas, easter, all other public holidays. we start at all hours and can work up to 12 hours if "**** happens", weekends? what weekends? gettig called on a day off? you betcha. getting called at 1am when they need someone? you betcha. having to lock in your annual leave 15 months in advance? you betcha. someone has a heart attack on board and all you have is a cpr mask? you betcha. if you work domestically you could deal with 720 pasengers in one day! if the weather is bad and once again "**** happens" who do you think cops it? not the bean counters, not the guys making all the rules and negotiating on our behalf with the union for new work rules. US and who keeps the bean counters and the other golden handshakers in a job? US! If we don't fix the passengers problem, or make them happy before they get off the flight are they necessarily going to fly with our airline again (whichever that airline may be) NO. And what happens then? No business. And what does that mean? Bean counters and all powers that be above, out of a job. Mmmm...and they think we are overpaid. Let us see them do our job for a month of bad weather, airport closures, engineering problems, catering problems, etc. none of these problems were caused by us...but we fix them and make the passengers happy. Over paid? Get real!!!
if you accept basic wage, you are part of the problem. Please, can we all start demanding what we should!!!!

[wirgin blew]

Nice rant for your first post CBR1.

Perthie18. VB is recruiting for domestic CC in SYD atm the wage is ok by Aus standards and isnt anywhere near as exciting as the previous poster made out.

V Australia is also recruiting for a SYD base and there is some conjecture about what they are actually paying but it is believed to be low in comparison.

VA have a SYD base but if you have a Aussie passport the above two would be a lot better than just doing SYD-HKG-SYD.

[our001]

Maybe not this year (def not 2008) maybe in 2009 but certainly by 2010.

WHY?

Well as part of the agreement with the Aust Govt, VS can only uplift 66% of its load as paying pax. So the rest of the plane is frequent flyers (and anyone who studies the number of points needed will have noticed that VS flights ex syd are very very reasonable), to competition winners and lots of industry tickets.

So it makes total sense as an Aust owned airline - there would be no load restrictions to fly SYD- HKG - and code share on VS.

It amazes me that V Australia did not use the Virgin name somewhere in the brand - as the brand is everything when it comes to marketing.

Len

[chicken or fish 2]

V Australia wanted to use the Virgin name but they couldn't use the name outside Australia for one reason or another...hense they used V as in Virgin and they may be able to change it to Virgin later on.

[AirborneSoon]

CBR1, if you can find a short haul job in Oz paying $55k base then pls let me know. I want to apply too...:E. And as a (partially irrelevant) aside I once worked a job with a pre-tax salary double what I am earning now as cabin crew. After tax? The difference is only $500 a month. A bigger figure on the nominated salary isn't always smarter in Australia.

In fact if my base was $55k then I would probably take home no more than I currently do. The Oz govt helping itself to the difference at my expense...:eek:

[ANstar]

oUR001 -I presume the 66% restriction is only applicable on the SYD-HKG leg as VS have no such restriction on SYD-LHR.

VS has always struggled with SYD-HKG as they could always fill the plane HKG-LHR so the SYD-LHR pax were few and far between, thus relying on the SYd-HKG sector. SYd-HKG has been quite cheap for the punters, but SYD-LHR is VERY expensive.

I expect the capacity issue to be resolved form Christmas as they are introducing a second LHR-HKG service which will mean more SYD-LHR pax can jump on the VS200/201 service now....

[our001]

Yes its just ex syd - it was a daily pax number - that they could uplift - and they agreed to it to get the landing rights.

plenty of load hkg lhr - hence the second daily.

I see this as being a V Aust route within a short time.

[I Just Want To Fly]

OK, well I am a bit confused. I am now Sydney base for VS.

I have never heard about this 66% thing. Wow that's really interesting. So does that mean that we cannot sell any more than 66% of it's seats out of SYD? regardless of the final destination? Yes the loads are very low, only half full yesterday and today, but I have done many flights where the flight has been full in all classes? How does it work?

Spoke to someone last month, and they are apparently still looking at recruiting in SYD, but at this stage still only for internal applicants with right to live and work in Oz. Everything is all up in the air, because it all depends on V-Australia.

No one knows what is happening with the base, because 20 of us are hoping to go to V-Australia, 15 of us are on temp visas, which expire in December, and the other few may have to go back to LHR if they want to stay with VS.

For any aussies with VS in LHR, consider the folowing:

Money is crap, flights are easy, HKG gets very boring after you've been there more than 40 times, SYD crew are awesome, did I mention money is CRAP!!!

Great way to get homw, and keep flying whilst looking for a better job! But that's it!