Jet Alliance off shore contracts.

[Rusty Trombone]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the freelance off shore contracts out of cyprus they are offering.
It looks all very odd, they offer you a full time Job but in reality its a freelance contract with little applicability to european employment laws.

Not sure whats going on?

[42000ft]

Hi!

Do you know if they need Flight Attendants?
Could you give me their contact or website so I could apply?

Thanks

[GLFSTMFIVE]

The job you apply for is on a JA website showing it as a job with JA. You will go for an interview in Vienna at the JA office. If you get the job you will have a JA company mobile phone, JA uniform, JA company ID badge, JA credit card, JA crew tags, a company email address with JA, your roster and orders will all come from JA and you will receive a regular monthly payment via Cyprus. With no deductions for tax or social. Unless you are Austrian living in Austria.

The contracts prior to April were with another company in Cyprus but they pulled out, due to legal implications, got cold feet I guess over something, hmm? JA decided in their wisdom they could set it up themselves!:ugh: and if you didn’t agree and take the new contract you would be removed from the roster.

The contracts are basically fulltime freelance for one company JA. I am sure this is not allowed in most European countries. In the UK this covered under IR35, with heavy fines and back taxes against the companies that break these rules as a lesson to others. I seem to recall hearing that this happened to a UK aviation company recently.

An issue you need to be aware of as a freelance pilot, you are no longer under the umbrella of a company running the aircraft, even though the Public liability Insurance may say you are covered, if there was an incident JA could say he is freelance nothing to do with us! You could possibly then find yourself being chased by insurance company for everything you own.

You are now operating as a sole trader, with regards to tax, if you don’t already have your own registered company to operate under. This also brings up another small issue of VAT. It is easy to go over the threshold for the country you live in, even though under EU agreement it would be zero rated as long as the other EU cross border company provide you with a vat number you still have to be registered.

I’m by no way a tax expert but I know the basics. The only people that can give you a legal answer on these freelance contract is the Austrian Tax authority (BMF) Ministry (http://english.bmf.gv.at) I suggest you talk to them.

Pilots in JA have raised their concerns and I guess you maybe one of them. I hear lots of guys have had jobs one day to wake up and find no job and no notice period due to being on these freelance contracts. Just like that!

That's my 2 cents worth, good luck if you get the job. Anyone else got any input?

[Former IJM Pilot 2]

Exactly the same as International Jet Management (IJM) also in Vienna!
The insurance question is a very valid one and IJM even made it compulsary for pilots to buy their insurance either through IJM or elsewhere.
It is not legal, it is just a cheap way to employ you whilst at the same time making sure you have no employment rights whatsoever. Mind you, nothing much that IJM do is legal!
But as the ops inspector is a friend of felix feller nothing much will change!

[formerijmpilot]

I am not bitter, but have managed to recover 20kus from their lost charter revenue in last 2 years so am happy.

Keep trucking guys,

IJM (1)

[Kent BeTrue]

Hi GLFSTMFIVE,

Just want to understand, are you saying that ANY and ALL freelance pilots, whomever they freelance for, are not covered by the aircraft insurers?

Cheers
Kent

[GLFSTMFIVE]

Hi Kent be true,

No, not saying you’re not covered but there is a very big BUT and a very large grey area which the lawyers will love. The aircraft you fly could have the best coverage, but the buzzword is Subrogation.

If you are an employee of a company you have protection under their public liability Insurance policy that they have. (Not really anything to do with aircraft insurance)

As a freelance pilot you may not fall under this protection and when things start getting nasty with insurance companies and lawyers, do you have it in black and white that you as a freelance pilot are covered against Subrogation? It really is a case by case basis with you as a freelancer and the company you freelance for.

ALL non Austrian resident pilots at JA are now forced into full time freelance contracts. Do you think JA will give you the support or throw their hands in the air and say he is freelance nothing to do with us when things go bad!!


Have a read of this article. The other issue is you may be approved but are you protected? No, I’m not an insurance salesman:eek:

Professional "Contract" Pilots -- Are You Protected? (http://www.avweb.com/news/insure/190338-1.html)

[Kent BeTrue]

Thanks for the response GLFSTMFIVE.

It is a hidden can of worms really.
I am expected to verify with every company that I freelance for, that I am specifically included in their insurance.

I only freelance occasionally, but for the full-time freelancers, this could be a nightmare.

On the same basis, is it legal for a aircraft operator to allow an "uninsured" pilot to operate their aircraft.

Complicated is not the word.

[Former IJM Pilot 2]

So what I am reading and my understanding is that management companies such as Jet Alliance and IJM are operating owners multi-million dollar aircraft with NO insurance against damage, loss or 3rd party claims? :eek:

If this is true it is an act of extra-ordinary negligence, doubtfully legal and I am sure something that the owners would not be aware of.

Any hull loss could possibly result in a claim against a pilot, (that thought he was an employee of the company) or pilots estate of tens of millions of dollars!

A 3rd party claim could run into hundreds of millions!

The question right now however is how many pilots working for these companies know this?

Very very scary indeed!

[DA50driver]

No pilot has that kind of assets anyways.

If he did he would be in the back of the plane. Make sure you have a company registered if you are going to do contract. They can sue the company, but not your personal assets

[ENG OUT]

A lot of people loosing their work at Jetalliance. Large money problems large overheads, cant see them lasting much longer. Since the previous management left Jetalliance the company has lost direction. spiralling out of control with bad management skills with the people that took their place. to much back stabbing in the office between each other.try to get one over on others to look good. not a way to run a company in this current climate. wonder how long they will last? days or weeks remaining for them?

[uberwang]

Thats just not true...

[callsignonly]

It may be true that even the former management of JAG had a strange addiction towards cronyism and that their behaviour towards people not perfectly obeying their orders was not so nice at all BUT the situation has not at all improved since they left.

JAG is for sure a financially weak firm as they have been living just from their aircraft sales within the last years. Flight operations never realized profit. :{

Since mid of september they forced everybody who has an office-job to work short-time; meaning they get 90% of their salary and officially only work 50%.
In reality the bosses expect that their employes do more or less their normal workload, maybe sometimes more from at home than from the office :ugh:!

All in all, they are fighting heavily not to go south, believe me...

[GLFSTMFIVE]

JA good times were based on income from aircraft sales. Charter and aircraft management has never made JA any money. Over the years they have been too busy Empire building making the company now very very top heavy in a poor climate with no substantial income to support it, forgetting what the core fundamental business model was.

The upper management have a classic case of Hubris syndrome in the Aviation industry and will follow the direction of Enron and more recently Lehman Brothers in the current climate.

[HermanTheGerman]

...very interesting thread. I have nothing to do with JA, IJM or the other mentioned companies.
But I am "employed" on a similar basis as freelancer.
I think the best way to be safe is to set up for my little one-person business a ltd or, since I am german, the german equivalent, the GmbH?

[His dudeness]

Not being a specialist, but also germans can setup ltds...methinks.
AFAIK it also requires less capital to do so than the GmbH...

[HermanTheGerman]

HD, correct, germans can set up as well a ltd. several people did so in the past and i had a small chat with my tax adviser about that.
In Germany it is also possible to set up a so-called 1-EURO-GmbH which makes the ltd unnecessary. It costs nothing and I understand it that I would be out of acountability and the insurance would be unable to claim me personally if something happens. So I think that this is the way to go.
Any other ideas?

[uberwang]

Thats funny, every company in Austria has take this so called Kurze arbeit.... Its there so take advantage of it..