Ryanair pilots' nationalities?

[aerobus123]

Hi folks, I wonder what your impression is as for where FR primarily take their pilots from. I've encountered quite a few Belgians but also a lot of Italians, but maybe that's just my wrong impressions, I don't fly for FR as I bailed out when I received a 2000 euro monthly base contract offer (Typerated FO, 2300 ToH, 250 hours on 737)

What countries do the people who accept such wages come from?

I got a job at a medium-sized European international airport as a baggage handler. Base salary of 3300 euro per month, with extras I usually make just over 4000 EUR per month. Funny to think that I make more than many of the pilots of the A/C I load. I am also working on getting a load control certificate, which would give me a promotion and most likely between 500 and 1000 EUR extra per month.

[aerobus123]

Of course I do, but I did a calculation of it and with the sector pay of somewhere around 20-22 EUR per flight hour it would give me about 2700 extra per month with around 30 SBH per week. If you add delays, planning, briefing, paperwork checks, travel time (and costs) you can easily add 10-15 hours per week extra. 4750 EUR monthly for 50 hours of work weekly is way too little for too much for someone like me. In my current job I have a contract of 37.5 hours per week, an overtime pay higher than the FR sector pay, way better pension, I mostly work convenient hours (if I worked more nights and evenings I would be paid quite a bit more). My company even subsidises my travel expenses with around 150 EUR per month (in addition to my other pay and benefits).

I can understand that I would probably be much worse off if this wasn't Norway with its outrageous wages (and living costs), but I am easily getting by and having a much happier life than when I was in the air.

[Flying Clog]

Shut your trap aerobus.

Don't try and justify your failed airline career by trolling on here.

What's that smell? Oh yeah, bull....

:}

[aerobus123]

How much do the FOs that earn 6000 EUR per month fly? I would never accept anything more than 30, maybe 35, as anything more would affect my performance and ability to operate safely. I was quite than exhausted when I was doing 25 hours weekly. Your concentration levels drop a bit when you are doing your 20th leg in 4 days...

[Skyjob]

Only as hard as you make it yourself...

Basic contracts may look appalling to some.
However as rightly said before, the base agreements offer additional income, in form of sector pay, allowances, pension, leave payments, roster patterns and more.
These are NOT visible when you sign your basic contract as these are base specific. Each base generally has similar allowances, but there are local variations.

At the end of the year, P60 (if an employee) will show roughly 45% additional pay for all those extra's if you opt into all of them.

[lear999wa]

Aerobus, you sound like a complete and utter idiot. While FR is a despicable company to work for, they generally do pay more or less the same as your national low cost airline.

[aerobus123]

I'll gladly admit that I made a wrong choice when setting out on a mission of achieving a life-long aviation career not knowing how much it takes. I spent a lot of money on my education, and save for the incredible experiences my education and 3-year piloting career gave me, I realise that I made a bad choice. The final nail in the coffin was when my girlfriend got pregnant, I couldn't imagine spending so much time away from her and my child.

Flying and aviation is my passion, and a managerial position in handling/ground ops is the dream job for me now and it's not not too far away. I haven't given up on flying entirely though, I still do 1-2 GA flights per month and I do PPL and instrument instruction quite a lot.

There is nothing that would be better for me than being able to work normal full-time hours suitable for a family father as a commercial pilot, with a pay that I can live from in Norway, but sadly that is extremely difficult to get.

I have incredible respect for my former colleagues though!

[safelife]

Good for you to Live in a country still having decent salaries.
In Berlin no loader earns more than 900 euros a month, neither does the ramp agent.
Few years ago things were different...

[SAB]

Certainly does not reflect the level of the ground handling in Norway - especially Gardermoen :} One should have thought so!

[aerobus123]

Our company gets very few complaints and we cause very few delays, and this goes for most of the OSL operators, so I can't see what there is to complain about... ;) In fact, OSL has one of the highest on-time records in the world, much of it thanks to efficient handling. I often work with major cargo operators like DHL, and we handle a lot of heavy, fragile and high-value cargo and we hardly ever have any form of damage or other incidents.

De-icing is the big bottleneck for us, but most of it is caused by a lack of capacity. If I got to decide I would increase the de-icing capacity, but it has to do with the airport, space, etc.. Despite this, we perform well when it comes to de-icing as well. I've had to be up there a few times despite it not being my primary duty, and you guys sitting behind the windshield can't imagine how we work (and freeze) our asses off :p

[themanthelegend]

I love this guy. Bragging about earning 4k throwing bags in a country where a ten min taxi costs on a Sunday is 70 euro and a burger at the airport is 30 euro. A pint is north of ten and I'd say a lap dance is north of a 100. So enjoy the 4k there dude!! And before comparing your salary to foreign nationals maybe do a bit of homework, as pilots we work in many different countries and currencies and if you're well travelled you become quite currency smart, as do our masters. Yours is a pretty ignorant post, there are literally hundreds of factors affecting cost of living v currency v country. As to your question, there's no real majority in Ryanair. It was probably irish once upon a time or maybe Romanian in the early days but now it's a totally mixed bag. Good luck with the load certificate training my man.

[polax52]

Aerobus:

While I am sure you are trolling, your point is good. Certain jobs are paid more than they are worth because of efficient collective bargaining,whilst other jobs which are worth much more are paid less due to a disunited work force.

I wish the same, that European Pilots would unite behind a strong union and lobby governments as well as collectively bargain. It is a distant dream though.

[Skyjob]

aerobus123 et al, have a look here as an indicative map of cost of living (http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/region_rankings.jsp?title=2014-mid&region=150)...

[aerobus123]

Themanthelegend: Those prices are way, way exaggerated. Taxi will probably cost you half, 4 cheeseburger at McD will set you back 5 EUR, you can easily find a pint for 5-6 EUR at the right cafes and restaurants, and lap dance... Well, my girlfriend doesn't charge me a cent... :p

[FR1A]

An Irish recruit is very rare these days - for an Irish company.

[themanthelegend]

Dude as I explained, there are too many factors to compare. Am sure Micky ds will be charging as cheap as possible, am sure I got the wrong taxi, am sure I drank in the wrong spot, and I won't go there with the last one. Point being if you were a pilot you'd suss all this stuff out, and if you're really lucky get to see a bit of the world, have some good laughs and maybe a few cries. As a pose to lobbing bags, but if you feel you're better off there then hate off to you sir. As for me I'll stick to the big jets because it's still cool. And after 15 years at it I don't have a clue how to do anything else. I get that you're having a little troll about but you're showing yourself up as a bit dim, as pilots we all know the fun and games associated with currency and we all know that a Baggie in Oslo earns more than a Baggie in England. And we all know Norway has tons of oil (zzzzzzzzzzzz) so back on topic, I asked about today and it looks like we have a few 'majorities', ie English, Dutch, irish and swedish I'm told. Followed closely by Italian and Spanish, and a bit of everything else too, it's one of the good aspects of working in Ryanair.

[themanthelegend]

And no those prices are not exaggerated. Moss to rygge on a Sunday, 70 euro. Burger at oleary's (I know lol) in the airport is 30 euro. Fact is Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world and that's fair enough but comparing your salary to a foreign national is silly, there's too many factors involved. But dude if you're happy then I'm happy for you! Just remember though, its a fickle world and the oil rich won't be rich forever..

[polax52]

This is a ridiculous discussion though. It is a fact that some baggage handling jobs in Europe pay better than some F/O jobs.

In the US most baggage handling jobs pay better than regional F/O jobs.

[aerobus123]

Don't really see the point in discussing this more now, but for those who say handling is a dull job you have little clue. I get to work up front with interesting airlines and aircraft every day, there are challenges that require creativity to solve all the time, I have worked with aircraft carrying government leaders and one of my colleagues even worked with AF1 when Barry-O came to OSL.

And BTW, we have several former pilots and a couple more CPL holders working here - most of them not because they could not find work, but because they wanted a more family-friendly job where they could be paid the same or more than in the air while working 25-50% fewer hours.

If the industry began to show an intent to improve wages, hours, terms and conditions, I'd be more than happy to return to flying. If we experience a growing pilot shortage, the companies will only have themselves to thank..

[BALLSOUT]

a123. You don't seem to grasp the real situation here. You are now almost at the top of your career as a baggage handler. This is manual work and you will be doing a lot of it outside in all weathers.
You are comparing this with someone starting out on a professional career, who will be sat inside with a cup of coffee watching you work.
They will be moving up the career ladder for may years, steadily increasing their experience and earning potential, while you grow old and bitter with your lot!
When you are 50+, suffering with a bad back etc from all of this fun you have had as a baggage handler, you can think back to this decision you made and reflect!

[Aluminium shuffler]

Forget it, Balls, you can't make a logical argument with someone who thinks a major job perk is handling the baggage of a celebrity that doesn't even see them, never mind stop and talk, and thinks that a challenging and creative task is to move bags from a trolley to a box and back.

Nationality of the employee has little bearing on employment, nowdays. What does matter is the nationality of the employer or base.