Network EBA
What's with this stupid comparison with a Perth Bus Driver? It took me 20 years to gain the skills, experience and judgement to operate in the left seat of a passenger jet for the QANTAS group. Thousands of hours of study, hundreds of hours of assessment in the simulator, I have lost track of how many exams, medicals, ground schools, line checks, christ my licence cost more than a new Porsche cost at the time,It took me most of my 20's to pay for it ! The stress, the drive, focus, ambition, risk and sacrifice don't compare to any job let alone a Perth bus driver ! Network pilots get it - fight for what you are worth. F*** the greedy bastards in QF management trying to rip me off ! I would rather watch the place go bankrupt.
The following 26 users liked this post by LivingtheDream46:
abaderrr, aussieflyboy, Average Joe, brokenagain, Cilba, Clare Prop, directsosij, dragon man, Gas Chamber, gordonfvckingramsay, josephfeatherweight, kingRB, LAME2, Led Zep, lucille, Maggie Island, MalcolmReynolds, Oriana, Pedalz, Pro777, redkite1, SpanwiseGlow, Swept-Wing, The Love Doctor, ThunderstormFactory, Transition Layer
Yet if you'd pursued a career as a bus driver instead, you'd now be much better off financially and have had a lot more leisure time along the way.
(Please don't shoot the messenger. And for the record: I support the pilots in this dispute and am sickened by what Qantas has become.)
(Please don't shoot the messenger. And for the record: I support the pilots in this dispute and am sickened by what Qantas has become.)
The following 3 users liked this post by Lead Balloon:
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: You know where the Opera House is? Well....no where near there.
Posts: 99
Likes: 0
Received 38 Likes
on
11 Posts
When Bob Hawke made that infamous bus driver statement, the union should of immediately booked the sim out for the day and gave 10 lucky bus drivers a crack at shooting an approach with a news crew there. Not too late.
The following 9 users liked this post by CaptainInsaneO:
The following 2 users liked this post by Lead Balloon:
The following 3 users liked this post by romeocharlie:
I’d like to second that (I’m sure as will many others)
Outstanding, the great majority doing us all proud.
Continue to stand strong.
Outstanding, the great majority doing us all proud.
Continue to stand strong.
The following 2 users liked this post by Australia2:
I wonder if Vanessa can be bothered getting out of bed to attend what could be the most important FWC hearing in Qantas’ history.
The following 2 users liked this post by gordonfvckingramsay:
The following 6 users liked this post by dragon man:
The following 5 users liked this post by dejapoo:
If she had a conscience and settled she wouldn’t have to bother about a court case.
The following 8 users liked this post by brokenagain:
It’s a shame the hearing isn’t being webcast.
The following 4 users liked this post by gordonfvckingramsay:
Thread Starter
The Senate representative, herein referred to as 'Take it on Notice,' is anticipated to be as occupied as an outsourced ground handler and will likely attend.
The following 5 users liked this post by dejapoo:
Well done and all my support to the Network drivers, you have done more than anyone in recent history to drive change for your industry - the time for change is now - hopefully the C suite in Mascot and even the silent echo chamber at AIPA are starting to realise just how deep the anger is, not just at Network but throughout the group.
You can shove your useless Staff Travel credits and ThankQ's - we'll take cash thanks....
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...doesnt-improve
You can shove your useless Staff Travel credits and ThankQ's - we'll take cash thanks....
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...doesnt-improve
The following 7 users liked this post by Pedalz:
Australia is facing a pilot crisis, as US airlines poach Qantas, Virgin and Rex recruits
Increased demand, poaching from overseas companies and an ageing workforce are creating turbulence for Australia's pilot numbers.MICHAEL SAINSBURY
MAR 14, 2024
3
Share
PILOTS AT THE QANTAS FLIGHT TRAINING CENTRE IN BRISBANE (IMAGE: AAP/JONO SEARLE)The Australian airline industry has a pilot crisis. Every commercial airline in the country is desperately trying to recruit. It’s hitting the lower paying regional airlines hardest and a growing part of the problem is the quality of pilots now flying commercial airlines. It’s part of a broader global shortage of both pilots and maintenance engineers. In Australia, it’s being made worse as Australian airlines battle pilot unions over salaries and conditions while a growing list of international operators implement an increasingly aggressive recruitment strategy.
Australia is uniquely vulnerable to poaching by US airlines due to the availability of E3 work visas for pilots under the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement. In addition to better pay and conditions, Crikey understands some are offering sign-on bonuses for captains as high as US$100,000 (A$151,000).
“We have frequently highlighted the looming severe pilot shortage in Australia and the urgent need for strategic measures before it reaches a crisis point. We emphasise the potential risk to regional connectivity and economies around the country,” the Australian Federation of Airline Pilots told Crikey in a statement.
Read More“Pilots are taking work offshore because these jobs are better paid than they are in Australia. It is time for the Australian operators/companies to acknowledge wages and conditions need to improve to attract and retain pilots.”
Crikey has learned that five pilots at Qantas’ Perth-based regional subsidiary Network Aviation quit in the past week, leaving for offshore airlines including Emirates and Cathay Pacific.
The problem has been a long time coming, born in part of the COVID-19 years — the number of flights was cut by more than half in 2020 and flight numbers are now being exacerbated by accelerating demand.
The pandemic led to a surplus of pilots with airlines offering them early retirement packages and letting go of too many pilots, as well as engineers and cabin crew in order to cut costs. The problem is that only cabin crews can be replaced with speed and they are quicker to train.
But air travel has boomed once more according to the International Air Transport Association, returning to pre-pandemic levels. International traffic in 2023 climbed 41.6% from 2022 and reached 88.6% of 2019 levels. In the fourth quarter of 2023, traffic was at 94.5% of 2019 levels.
Many airlines have been forced into a reduction in the number of flight schedules due to a shortage of pilots and crew, leading to an increase in delayed and cancelled flights. The latest data from the federal government’s Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) showed only 73.4% of domestic flights arrived on time in January, and 3.1% were cancelled, well short of the long-term averages of 81% and 2.2%.
As the size of the aircraft fleet continues to increase worldwide, coupled with the recovery of air travel to 2019 levels by 2023, the pilot shortage will accelerate. Projections show the pilot shortage in the Asia-Pacific could reach more than 22,000 pilots by 2025.
The pilot problem’s first public victim was Rex, which has been forced to cut regional services as it cannot properly crew its fleet of 57 SAAB propeller planes, whose pilots are at the very bottom of Australian pilot pay scales. Rex cut services on several routes last September and late last month confirmed they would remain on ice for a further seven months at least.
While the official line has been supply chain and spare parts issues, industry insiders tell Crikey that a lack of pilots is the real problem. Qantas has “frozen” its pilots at regional subsidiaries (National Jet Systems, Sunstate, Eastern and Network Aviation) that run its QantasLink and fly-in-fly-out charter services, leaving them unable to apply for better-paid jobs in the company’s Jetstar and mainline divisions. Ironically, this now leaves a shift to Virgin, for instance, as a quicker path to a job, one Qantas mainline pilot told Crikey.
Read MoreJetstar’s lack of pilots was also on display last week when it said it had made a range of changes to its recruiting policy and would consider employing pilots (rather than first or second officers) from outside the company for the first time, to fill five vacancies in Perth and eight in Sydney, according to an email from chief pilot and head of flying operations Tyrone Simes obtained by Crikey. Rex and Jetstar declined to respond to questions from Crikey.
While Virgin said it “continues to see interest from the pilot community to join Virgin Australia Group”, with its Brisbane information days booked solid until August, it continues to leak pilots to Qantas mainline, pilots told Crikey. Virgin is seeking 20 new pilots and 80 first officer pilots over the next 12 months — after only successfully employing a net four pilots in the past four months, according to company insiders. Sixty-five Virgin pilots are moving to Qantas (with start dates) and about 10 per month returning or heading overseas.
The ensuant problem, especially for regional airlines, is the declining quality of new hires for first and second officer positions. In coming years, a significant proportion of current pilots will also reach retirement age, leaving a considerable gap of expertise.
“It’s not the fault of individuals, but the tight supply. Pilots are coming with far fewer flying hours and less traditional ‘out bush’ experience that gives them the ‘near miss’ type of experiences that pilots need to cope with emergencies,” a senior pilot manager at a major airline told Crikey. Qantas is also fast-tracking cadets from its Toowoomba academy into better jobs ahead of those who have done time in regional jobs, creating something of an “us and them” culture, pilots said.
As the AFAP noted, the retention (and training) of Australian pilots in Australia requires a whole-of-industry approach. Yet the Albanese government continues to sit on its hands as it waits for the Aviation White Paper to be completed “mid-year”.
There were few solutions offered in last year’s Green Paper that preceded it, and Transport Minister Catherine King — a member of the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge and recipient of 750,000 Frequent Flyer points from the company last year — has shown no signs of trying to rein in Australia’s dominant airline.
Only last week, Qantas jacked up its prices for the second time in six months. This means more revenues feed its multi-billion dollar bottom line, leaving it in the best position to compete for available pilots — of course, not all pilots want to move offshore — and stymie its competitors
There were few solutions offered in last year’s Green Paper that preceded it, and Transport Minister Catherine King — a member of the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge and recipient of 750,000 Frequent Flyer points from the company last year — has shown no signs of trying to rein in Australia’s dominant airline.
The following users liked this post:
Slowly the rest of the media may pick up the story...which is.. Australian airlines are short of pilots because they are not internationally competitive on salary with overseas airlines.
How many times do we here company CEOs benchmark themselves against New York and London salaries for themselves but benchmark the shop floor workers against Delhi, Bangalore, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Well, the worm has turned.
Well done to the Network crews who have stayed strong.
How many times do we here company CEOs benchmark themselves against New York and London salaries for themselves but benchmark the shop floor workers against Delhi, Bangalore, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Well, the worm has turned.
Well done to the Network crews who have stayed strong.
The following 21 users liked this post by Icarus2001: