EAC 747

[UFGBOY]

Rumnour has it they did their proving flight yesterday - anyone know what work they have (allegdley) got lined up?

[ANFO]

Who is EAC?? <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[Joyce Tick]

I'm surprised you haven't heard of it down there in Oz! European Air Charter operates a handful of 732's out of Bournemouth on the south coast of Blighty..

[RegionalFlyer]

One has only 200 seats any will do VIP / Formula One work, another should be away for a month very shortly. There is plenty more in the pipeline, and the rumour is that EAC is getting more enquiries for the 747's than for the 737's.

Good luck to them. Oh, and they have an ad in Flight for Capts, F/Os, engineers, cabin crew, etc.

[Bright-Ling]

Just looked on the CAA website and the first aircarft is G-BDXH and i sregistered to EUROPEAN SKYBUS LTD, with the same Company details as EAAC.

Are they changing name!?!?

B-L

[gulf-crew]

MAN based 747 EAC a/c will be doing virgin contract for summer to orlando. Rumour has it that they have a load of work to Japan as well coming up dont know from which base yet and lots of work for the man based crew as well.

VIP a/c for Minardi is not yet config of 200 and will be operating flight soon to KUL,SIN,SYD in old BA config know that they will be recruiting more crew in the next month or so.. .Does anyone know if they are looking for VIP C/crew for Minardi would like to find out as most of the crew they just took on are all ex charter and dont have VVIP or F/C experience.

. . :) :)

[sky9]

Are Virgin short of pilots?

[RegionalFlyer]

I can guess they way this thread might go, so before everyone starts slagging EAC for doing flights for other companies who have just made redundancies, can I point out that the pilots employed by EAC on the 747 are pretty much all ex Virgin and BA employees. Employees who would otherwise be without a job.

[scroggs]

As has been stated before in another thread, EAC will not have anything to do with the VS MAN_MCO service. This will be operated by VS crews (flight and cabin) on an ex-VS 742 leased to Air Atlanta.

[Noddy Staltern]

The EAC proving flight is scheduled for 28 Jan. The 'Minardi' a/c is currently sitting on the disused runway at BOH in its BA 3-class 376 seat config. The second aircraft should arrive today from the paintshop in Rome in a 440 config. Orlando services (not Virgin) are planned for the summer from MAN and LGW. They are currently recruiting across the spectrum for personnel for the 747 operation.

[Dirty Harry]

I have previously contributed to a similar thread on this operation, and in particular made the comment that EAC have themselves made a fair number of pilots redundant. So where is the justification for laying off their own crews and then hiring BA and Virgin crews to do the job. Seems to me that EAC are the guilty party. It matters not where EAC operate the aircraft.

[dullcopilot]

It seems to me that most redundancys have been fleet , and even seat , related , before seniority . Not venturing an opinion as to the rights and wrongs of that . And what EAC did was really no different to other companies .Also, When thay started with 737s they recruited 737 guys . This is really no different on the 74s .

[GOLDEN LION]

EAC will be operating a MAN/SFB and LGW/SFB programme this summer...... but not the VS one ! <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> :) <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> :) <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

[Dirty Harry]

Dullcopilot - Maybe EAC did recruit pilots directly on to the B737, but they were not making other pilots in the company redundant at the same time I believe. We understand that the majority of pilots who have suffered redundancies within EAC only have a BAC 1-11 type rating, which will be of little or no assistance in helping them to secure further employment. I think you may also find that despite your comment, many other companies did in fact do things very differently.

[dullcopilot]

Dirty Harry. .yep i agree , been out of work with just a 1-11 on the license . however , and i stand to be corrected, Virgin made guys redundant on the basis of fleet , as did BMI ,Lufthansa and probably a few others .. .Also there were redundancies , of pilots , on the 1-11 as EAC was running 737 courses .. .Again , im not judging EAC, and i hope everyone finds a job , lots of my friends got the boot this time round . . .As for other companys , who has done it differently then ?

[Dan Winterland]

Wrong Dullcopilot. Virgin pilots went (are still going) on seniority. This means most of the 'redundees' are from the 744 and 340, only 14 went from the Classic. The vacancies left by the dissmissed 744 and 340 guys are being filled from the Classic and 320 pilots above the cut.

[dullcopilot]

OK , sorry. .Thats not the picture i had painted for me , most of the Virgin guys i know or have spoken to about this seem to feel differently .Still ,back on topic ,do you feel that EAC should have retrained people from 1-11 to the 747 ?

[Enter after the Virgin]

By all accounts I think buying Minardi was the best thing Stoddart ever did, he has brought EAC into the international elite market and the VIP B747 seems to be getting a great deal of interest as a result, with Minardi's new deal for 2002 with the Malaysian Government things are looking bright for the whole package.

He should re-brand now though ! and not make the same mistake Branson did ie 'Virgin Atlantic' and limit his global perception . . <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

[Dirty Harry]

Dullcopilot – To answer your last posting I think you will find that the airlines you have mentioned have made redundancies by seniority lists. I believe Virgin looked at making redundancies by fleet, but then did the right thing and implemented the seniority list. What amazes me about this thread is that nobody seems to have thought into the implications of airlines being able to get rid of pilots because they do not have the required type rating. It means that all of us would only ever get to fly one type, unless of course we trained ourselves up on other types at our own expense. I don’t wish to start a lengthy debate on the rights and wrongs of seniority lists, but they are a fair way to handle redundancies in our industry.

[Bright-Ling]

The second 747 arrived today at EGHH. (G-BDXE I think) - but had red stripes instead of the blue of G-BDXH.

Is this in keeping with EAC's company colours and mena that the Blue one will be used for the VIP/Minardi work as er the old 1-11's?

Got loads of pics of them both together.....bless!!