Australian Airline Pilot: Respected Profession or 'Noose around your Neck'
When the next EBA comes around the pilots will hold fresh, unbonded A220 endorsements which the operation will be completely reliant on, in a climate where other countries are offering both visas and big incentives to fly that aircraft type. Qantas/NJS will be reckless if they don’t throw a significantly improved EBA at the pilots before the aircraft arrives.
Thing is, once you throw caution to the winds there’s almost zero chance of returning to a similar status position - the seniority system sees to that.
You can be certain that HR has these calculations in their minds already.
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The Johannesburg refueler recons that hours before the recent QLink foreign recruit interviews were due to start in JNB, there were still vacant slots with calls going out to whoever wanted to join the show. Apparently other subsidiaries are also averaging sub 50% show rates on interview days...
NJS pilots - "We will get them at the next EBA!" What a load of rubbish, the same morons that voted the current EBA up all still work there including the main fear campaigner, a captain from Brisbane who descended below MSA at night into Hobart and somehow kept his job.
The only thing anyone can do to improve their career there is to resign from that embarrassing GA operation and move on.
The only thing anyone can do to improve their career there is to resign from that embarrassing GA operation and move on.
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Thread Starter
Using publicly available data, let's assess the goodness of the JQ deal for (per example) a Narrow Body Captain:
1 July 2018: $200 813.00
1 July 2023: $232 600.00
1 July 2024: $239 578.00
1 July 2025: $246 765.00
Common perception would be that a good deal would put you in a position better off than you were before, especially considering additional sacrifices or productivity improvements sold off.
Here is the good deal with real hard facts:
To summarise, this good deal will cause your June 2025 salary to trail the buying power of your July 2018 salary by 5.56%.
In simple terms, you will be at $239 578.00 when you should've been at $252 894 just to match your July 2018 buying power - not so good, or is it....
The following 7 users liked this post by RealSatoshi:
When the next EBA comes around the pilots will hold fresh, unbonded A220 endorsements which the operation will be completely reliant on, in a climate where other countries are offering both visas and big incentives to fly that aircraft type. Qantas/NJS will be reckless if they don’t throw a significantly improved EBA at the pilots before the aircraft arrives.
Airbus A320/A330/A350 operators will not consider A220 hours as Airbus hours—if that’s what they are hoping for!
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Besides, the 717/220 is perfectly fine for Atlas.
Last edited by Lapon; 7th Jul 2023 at 00:29.
I get that the NJS guys are frothin for this A220 rating but you have to understand that it’s as useless as a B717 rating. The Airbus name is purely marketing; it’s about as Airbus as the 717 is Boeing. Where do you intend to take these A220 hours? With the majority destined for North America, an A220 rating will not do you too many favours. Otherwise in Europe, Air France/Air Baltic etc are getting some, but again, not much use to an Aussie.
Airbus A320/A330/A350 operators will not consider A220 hours as Airbus hours—if that’s what they are hoping for!
Airbus A320/A330/A350 operators will not consider A220 hours as Airbus hours—if that’s what they are hoping for!
PS, the days of the “type rated” application being the norm are pretty much over, these days an airline will take you with nothing. Yet another reason to value what they have as it will turn out to be cheaper than cancelling flights and parking jets due to training limitations.
Not sure what the argument is here. A220 is a smaller narrow body jet airliner. Whatever hours you have will be better than having nothing and if you can't transfer your skills from an A220, to an Ejet or over to the A320 or 737 you probably should go clean toilets instead. Pretty sure the US airlines will not care at all if you have 1500+ hours on an A220 or 737. Considering the amount they are paying, shelling put for a type rating will be cheap for them. I've seen SAAB pilots leave and fly 747s over there, so does that mean the SAAB rating is better than having an A220 in the log book?
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Any NJS pilot who says they’re waiting for the a220 TR before leaving for overseas is talking ****.
The A220 TR doesn’t make you any more employable in the current market. They’re so desperate for pilots in USA that GA guys from Oz flying pistons are being put in the RHS of 767s, 747s and 777s.
Your 717 experience is more than sufficient. You understand how to operate an old jet without the luxuries of the new fancy stuff. You’ll have no issues transitioning to any other jet and those overseas companies won’t care whether you rock up with a 717 TR or a 717+220 TR. They’ll pay for whatever training they need to provide you with, and they’d rather do it sooner than later.
It’s all talk. Those blokes won’t leave.
The A220 TR doesn’t make you any more employable in the current market. They’re so desperate for pilots in USA that GA guys from Oz flying pistons are being put in the RHS of 767s, 747s and 777s.
Your 717 experience is more than sufficient. You understand how to operate an old jet without the luxuries of the new fancy stuff. You’ll have no issues transitioning to any other jet and those overseas companies won’t care whether you rock up with a 717 TR or a 717+220 TR. They’ll pay for whatever training they need to provide you with, and they’d rather do it sooner than later.
It’s all talk. Those blokes won’t leave.
The following 6 users liked this post by soseg:
Waiting for an Airbus/Boeing type rating on the other hand I could understand because there are plenty of DEC contracts available as well as narrow body to wide body opportunities.
BTW 785 orders is relatively small. A320 family alone have 10,000 plus in service with a backlog of around 7000.
Remember there was also a time that DC3s then 727s ruled the sky, but then the world moved on and times changed.
I'd speculate that once a -500 goes into production it will cement the 220 as the popular family of the next 40 years.
Airbus themselves suspect as much, which is why they need the existing manufacturing process to mature before developing the -500.
The following 4 users liked this post by SuPeRcHaRgEd:
Maybe so. But nothing is going to hurt those Fcukers more than if pilots wait and resign with their fresh 220 endorsement in hand! A well deserved F... You for the treatment NJS pilots have endured in recent years!
And anyway, why shouldn't a father/mother be able to take a day off for their son's birthday??
Does the airline CEO - or any of the management - come into work at 0500 on Christmas Day, or on their birthday, or on their family member's birthday? No.......thought not.
Aviation is a 24/7 industry. For some roles in it, if you don't come to work, someone else has to. That's why others prefer you do your rostered shift, rather than them have to.
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No one is saying you can't. You just need to plan your holidays better. It's not like their birthday is a surprise. You get a year's notice each time.
Well, Christmas Day is a public holiday, so most non shift workers - and the industry has several - will not be at work. As for not coming to work on their birthday or their family members birthday? I think you've been in the sheltered workshop too long.
Aviation is a 24/7 industry. For some roles in it, if you don't come to work, someone else has to. That's why others prefer you do your rostered shift, rather than them have to.
Well, Christmas Day is a public holiday, so most non shift workers - and the industry has several - will not be at work. As for not coming to work on their birthday or their family members birthday? I think you've been in the sheltered workshop too long.
Aviation is a 24/7 industry. For some roles in it, if you don't come to work, someone else has to. That's why others prefer you do your rostered shift, rather than them have to.
Get real, if you can always get your requests then I’d love to know where you work.
No, I can't always get what I want. I've always worked shift in jobs that were 24/7. I've missed my share of family and life events. I (and my family) take that as part of the job. I'm on a salary. I get the same money whether I work 12hr day shift or 12hr night shift, Friday or Sunday, Anzac Day or Christmas Day, If one of my days on or off happens to be a public holiday, I don't get another day off in lieu. That's just the way it works. I (and my family) take that as part of the job. I knew it going in. There's always another option should the work you choose to do turn out to be inconvenient. No one is holding a gun to your head to accept their pay cheque.
Last edited by Traffic_Is_Er_Was; 10th Jul 2023 at 02:08. Reason: Speling
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If one of my days on or off happens to be a public holiday, I don't get another day off in lieu
Does seniority still enhance your ability to get what you bid for? If so the folk further down the list whose bid goes in the bin might be a darn sight happier if the important days days such as Xmas were spread equitably right across the work force, in this computer age its not beyond the ingenuity of man/woman to devise a program/software.
Can you back that up with anything in either your agreement or the Fair Work Act?