National Jet Italia fires pilots

[flyblue]

Today National Jet Italia has fired all its 737 pilots, due to the company's decision to continue operations only on its BAe146.
Flight Attendants for the moment will be moved from base LIN and FCO to the other bases, but layoffs are expected.

[737man]

Having been involved with the 737 operation out there my thoughts are with the jobless pilots and cabin crew. I guess Alitalia will come through this with the help of the Italian Govt as usual!

[Devils Advocate]

Actually I wouldn't worry too much, as there's still a lot of demand for experienced 737 drivers.

[KIWISAHIB]

Devils Advocate

Mind telling me where that demand is for experienced 737 drivers?

Many thanks :p

[tech...again]

Yes, both 734's sitting in FCO with no planned sectors... just 2 of the 4 146-300's with planned sectors for tomorrow.

Yet another casualty. The best of luck to all those affected at NJI.

:( :(

[737man]

SKYTRUCK- I think even now easyJet are keen on EXPERIENCED 737 EFIS drivers. Of course you need a UK ATPL and a right-to-work in the UK.

[maybepilot]

Just spoke to my friend,all true.
Actually he told me the full NJI story and here are just some facts:
the pilots' contracts are of 2 types, one is Jersey based and the other one in Luxemburg; in both cases they are illegal because they avoid the italian tax and law system which by EU law should be the governing one for workers based in Italy.
Apparently quite a few people at NJI don't even have an EU passport and some not even a JAA licence, of course it is possible to obtain an EU work permit (temporary in most cases) but it seems that most of them still don't have it after more than 1 year of operations and it's known that one should have a work permit BEFORE starting a job in the EU so they are illegal even from an immigration point of view.
Moreover the fact that they are operating on a UK AOC in Italy and employ pilots from all over makes the category very divided and vulnerable since it is hardly possible for any union to protect their interests.
He also told me that they have had problems and delays since the beginning of the summer in paying salaries and services and that punctuality,aircraft reliability and load factors have also been a problem.
It sounds to me that the reasons for disaster are to be found at management level and not in the facts that happened on sept. 11th.

[LAVDUMPER]

Skytruck,

Jet Aviation just posted an ad in Flight International looking for B737NG drivers for a BBJ based out of the Middle East - although pilots would live in Europe.

Flying a new, shiny BBJ worldwide wouldn't be too bad!!!!!!! Look in the back of the latest Flight International mag for details...

Best of luck to everyone involved!

[maybepilot]

The latest is that nobody (pilots and FA's) have been paid yet and it's not the first time.
How long does it take them to declare bankrupcy?