Aer Arann Express?

[mad_bob]

I and a number of former colleagues (ex Gill) have an Interview with Aer Arann Express next week. Info about them is pretty scarce. Ive tried the usuals, the net, pprune, IPA, BALPA, but not much at all other than their web site.
Anyone out there care to shed some light? Any info would be useful, what to expect at interview, basings, rosters pay and contitions etc.....

Any help would be great thanks.

[basil fawlty]

It helps if you did your training with them in the first place, oh, and you have an Irish accent as well. I know that there are exceptions, but in my experience the Irish don't warm to "outsiders" taking their jobs....even though that is what thousands of Irish themselves do all over the world.

[Leviathan]

Mad Bob

Sorry can't be of more help than Basil; but just by way of heads up if you are offered a position in Dublin bear in mind the very high cost of living there now, especially (I imagine) relative to the sunny NE.

Best of luck to you and the others.

Leviathan

[Irish Flyer]

First of all I would like to reject the outragous comments made by Basil Fawlty in relation to Irish people not warming to others taking their jobs. Speaking on behalf of myself and I'm sure many more may I say that I would personally have no problem in working with any pilot of any nationality when I qualify. I thought those days were well and truly gone.

Mad Bob,

I cannot really add too much about Aer Arann but I will quote some details that appeared in an article in the Irish Independent on Tuesday the 26th March. Some of the points raised about the airline were:
"Aer Arann has an annual turnover of 31.74 million euro and operates up to 30 flights a day during the summer. It runs 200 flights a week between the capital (Dublin) and eight destinations in the south and west of Ireland. It carries 300,000 passengers a year and has been named by Flight magazine as the world's fastest growing regional airline for the past two years."

"There are 40 pilots working for the company, of which four are female. It's a young company and one that has grown very quickly."

"Everyone knows everyone else - from the Chief Executive down to the cleaning lady. There's a great environment. All of the captains are male, while the four females are first officers."

"In any 14-day roster, you get four days off. It works out at five days work per seven days"

The typical day could include three return trips to Galway in day or flying from Dublin to Kerry or Dublin to Cork. There are also two types of overnight shifts to Kerry and Galway.

These are the only relevant points that I think would help with your interview. From reading the article it seems to be a very enjoyable place to work.

I want to wish you the very best of luck as an "Irish" person in the interview and hopefully you can give us the profile of the company when you get that RHS.

Best of Luck,
IF

[mad_bob]

Many thanks to you all for your replies and info.

If anyone has any further to add i would be grateful for it.

Cheers MB

[basil fawlty]

Silky,
I'm amazed at the number of people on these forums who cannot understand what they read.
Did I mention Ryan Air, Aer Lingus or Transaer??? No. The question refered to Aer Arann, and although I have no direct experience of them myself (their aircraft are too small and simple to carry a flight engineer!) two of my close friends have, and I am merely passing on the sum of their very real experiences. The Irish aviation scene is very, very clique oriented....(what about the IRISH guy who was ten hours short of the minimum to undertake his flight tests...one letter to the IAA, and "oh alright, that doesn't matter"!! What is the point in having minimum experience requirements then if the rules can be bent to such a degree?.....and this "courtesy" was extended to the IRISH applicant, and NOBODY else) In addition, I am told, for many years the guy writing and marking many of the ground exams was also running a very lucrative groundschool class for said exams....just about the biggest conflict of interest possible.
I have never applied for a job with an Irish airline, never wanted to, so sorry to dissappoint you, no sour grapes here.
Irish Flyer,
I'm sure that you personally have no problem with foreign pilots, but then you're not handing out the contracts of employment are you??

[mutt]

Basil, Did your two friends speak Gaelic? After all, RE fly to the west of Ireland where Gaelic is very prevalent, one could therefore see a requirement for the crews to speak the local language…..
:)

Mutt.

[basil fawlty]

Mutt, I very much hope that Gaelic is not used over the R/T or on any official documentation!!:D

[rampgrunt]

Basil Fawlty

I am told, for many years the guy writing and marking many of the ground exams was also running a very lucrative groundschool class for said exams....just about the biggest conflict of interest possible.

You say "you are told".

How well do you PERSONALLY know the person you mention?

I do know him, and I've prepared for exams with him, and I am not Irish.

I would venture to suggest that you do not know him very well, as if you did, you would know that your comments are unjustified, and unfair.

[mutt]

Basil, I still cant understand how you have come to your conclusions based on the fact that 2 of your mates didn’t get a job with RE.

Did you ever try to find out just how many of the present pilot workforce is Irish? Did you compare their FO starting salary with the cost of living in Dublin? Did you compare their experience levels with those hired?

Gaelic is used on my Pilots Licence and Passport, at one stage we could even get the SI's in Gaelic, is that official enough for you?

As for your comments about DS, I really think that you need to meet the man before casting aspersions on his character....

Slan Leat……

Mutt.

[basil fawlty]

Mutt, Rampgrunt et al....
If you really wish to engage in debate effectively then why don't you try engaging on ALL of the points I have raised, rather than acting like a politician and picking on some and then conveniently forgetting the others. The authority seems to bend rules as it see fit, and always in favour of Irish nationals. I have several good Irish friends, but I must say that some Irish individuals can be almost "racist" in their views of Brits and others. Sorry, but I speak as I find from my own experiences and those of people I know. Actually, I HAVE met DS, although I didn't know the extent of his activities at the time that I did so. Being a nice bloke and of "good character" does not absolve the fact that he is both poacher and gamekeeper in this situation does it? It is still plainly WRONG regardless of how helpful he seems to be. However, I realise that I can't win in the face of all you "Oirish charrrmers", and I will draw this to a close now....after all I don't wish to upset the Irish aviation mafia, I may well come home to find a donkeys head in my bed!
regards.

[Seer]

Good luck to the folks having interviews today & tomorrow. Post here how it went...?

[Freddy Forks]

mad_bob

let us know how it went; ie,
when you will start,
how many crews they were looking for, etc...

Also do you know how your fellow pilots at Gill have got on since last year-are you all in jobs yet. It is a struggle at the moment unless you have a 737 rating.

[basil fawlty]

Silky,
Have you been drinking? Your last post is not too coherent and full of typo's I'm afraid to say. Whats the problem? Don't like the TRUTH??? Can you enlighten me then as to why the authority over there bends the rules as they see fit??? Over here at least they stick to the rules, even if they are considered harsh.
Old proverb states that he who loses his temper loses the argument....need I say more?

[basil fawlty]

Actually Silky I have 2280 hours as a flight engineer on B747 and 727 aircraft. I also hold a CPL/IR, so where does all this wanabee stuff come from?? I'm glad actually that I'm not stuck on the flightdeck or in the sim with YOU. What a self serving little backstabber you seem to be.....In the "REAL" world, as you keep calling it, people like you rarely last too long. BTW, I'm still waiting for an answer to my previous points, but you don't have an answer do you? so you resort to the petty insults of the playground. Come back when you have some answers, otherwise this correspondence is closed.

[Leviathan]

"It helps if you did your training with them in the first place, oh, and you have an Irish accent as well. I know that there are exceptions, but in my experience the Irish don't warm to "outsiders" taking their jobs....even though that is what thousands of Irish themselves do all over the world."

Basil, don't want to join in on the pissing contest here but suggest you reflect back on your original unhelpful reply to a request for information. You obviously have a bone to pick with the Irish Aviation Authority (authority?) and that's your perogative but to come out with such sweeping generalisations as the above guff you can only expect to get sh!t on from a great height, padnuh.

[Irish Flyer]

Getting back to the original question, I can tell that Aer Arann are now opening up a new route from Dublin to the UK. Don't know where exactly though. Aer Arann say it will generate 30 new jobs. I'm sure that at least a few of these will be pilot jobs.

[mad_bob]

First off, a thank you to all for your help and best wishes.

The interview. Very pleasant and informal, more like a chat really, with their Fleet Manager and Human Recources Manager. Two really decent blokes if im any judge. It lasted about 45 minutes. Nothing scary, no tech questions, more like what sort of a person you are and would you be right for them, would you be willing to live in Dublin bearing in mind the cost of living there. They did point out quite how expensive it can be.

They spelt out terms and conditions, what to expect with rosters and flying etc. Not dissimillar to what Gill used to do and pay, but with a more stable roster and no night mail it would seem.
As far as i know they are after 8 crews in total. They have or are interviewing not just ex Gill but a number of others, all i belive have an ATR Rating. We should know within a week if they want us to go for another interview. If they like what they see then its a start either in May or another intake Mid June. This is for the addition of two ATR 72`s they are getting hopfully, soon. Their fleet 4x ATR42 and shortly 2x ATR72.

All in all i liked what i saw and heard and if offered i will go to Dublin. They seem like a friendly decent bunch who enjoy what they do and i wouldnt mind being part of that.

As for Ex Gill-Airways, well its difficult to say precisely out of the 92 laid off as to how many are flying again. A few with Shed ratings have managed to get something, mainly night cargo i belive. 12 have gone to British European. Half a dozen or so have tempoary contracts in Norway on ATR`s. A number but not many are scatterd around the world in various places. I would say at least half of us are still out of flying 7 months after the event.

Bank of Scotland......Bah!!! The Irish had the right idea when they had their own currency they named it after a bank manager!......... the PunT!!!

Once again thanks to those of you who have been helpful, it is appreciated.

[Tom the Tenor]

Another bit of good news from the Aer Arann stable. From June they begin a twice daily Cork-Birmingham service and from July a daily Cork-Southampton. Hope they do well on both new routes.

[Leviathan]

Bob

Thanks for the update, hope you get the job.

[Dr. Bunsen Honeydew]

Basil - your remarks on racist attitudes conjure up images of kettles and pots..............

[dick badcock]

My neighbors in Dublin were RE pilots; two venezuelan captains, about as foreign as can be I'd say! RE didn't treat their Shed pilots very well last year though did they?