Pacific Blue.....Watch this space
 

It is sad to see an airline ruined by incompetent management.

The recent tail scrape in SYD (the second, this year) is the end result of the steady erosion of morale, terms and conditions and standards at Pacific Blue.

J B the MD at PB recently sent his staff a letter congratulating the pilots, cabin crew, engineers and management on all the great achievements that were made in the past 12 months. He also hinted that the staff should "watch this space" as further exciting developments take place.

Behind the scenes though, crew morale is at rock bottom, sickness levels are through the roof and pilots and cabin crew are resigning at an alarming rate. (30 pilots this year alone have left from a total pilot group of 90)

Why I hear you ask?

Maybe it is the fact that after 4 years of operation the crew are still contractors with Rishworth and Contract Aircrew when they were all promised full time employment after the first year of operation.

Maybe it is the fact that PB pilots are amongst the lowest paid 737 operators in the region. (by the way they recently enjoyed a duty pay increase of $0.20 / hour, yes thats 20 cents!!! the first increase in three years), there is no pension, the new day off payment ($500 for a Cpt) does not count if the crew member works into a dayoff due to a disrupt.

Maybe it is the fact that coincident with the start of domestic operations approx 2 months ago, the Fatigue Management System was revised, reducing min rest to 10 hours and allowing a midnight finish prior to a day off and a 0500 start post a day off. The roster is to provide at least 6 days free of duty per month, and crew are being roster to fly back of the clock international flights then having to report on min rest for 5 sector domestic duties time and time again, that is of course if they actually get to work their rostered duty as due to the levels of sickness and disruption roster changes are a daily event.

Maybe it is the fact that first officers have been threatened that if they attend other job interviews their commands will be held back indefinitely.

Maybe it is the fact that after all the hard work that JB was congratulating the crews for. He could even be bothered to put on a christmas party for his staff.

Where are the pilot management while all this is going on??? Oh they are on leave. The only one manning the phone is one of the "old boys" from the good ole Ansett NZ days who just these past few hours sent the pilots an email saying. Fellas maybe you should watch that DVD we sent you about tail scrapes again....you know the one we sent out last time we had a tail scrape. Yeah that should do the trick. :ok:

Funny how in the past few weeks the contact details for the Jetstar pilot recruitment manager have appeared in all the crew rooms.

Watch this space indeed JB!!!!:D

Get the union in. Don't stand for that.

6 days off per month!!!!

Chr!st! How low can you go? Not to mention off course the other disgraceful erosion of basic workers rights. As for the Xmas party for staff, well the only "Real" staff would be management, after all the people that make P.B. are merely contractors, and that is Rishworth's concern not theirs.

I'd say that for some time now P.B. has probably been viewed by many as a training ground at best. The tragedy is for those who truely believed in the company and have been led astray and let down by the self serving cretins at the top.

The continuation of this type of manergerial bastardry in the face of a world wide shortage of drivers (especially Jet drivers) simply beggers belief!

My prediction is that PB will be gone in 6 months. Get out and get your just deserts boys and girls. There are "real" companies out there that want you as part of their organisation and are willing to pay the price for having you.

Indeed tiger-palm why would anyone put up with it. Many are not and are leaving. The management are banking on the fact that there will always be those who want above all else to live in NZ. They are also hoping to get guys and gals who are looking to 'come home' from the desert etc. Funny thing is we have already had a few of these pilots start with us and most are not even completing their line training before they tender their resignation!
For any potential pac blue pilots out there think long and hard. You will have to pay up front for your rating (no salary sacrifice here), and at the end of the day keep in mind that an F/O at Virgin Blue will be taking home more than a Captain at PB.
Why bother.

What a tragic thread this is. If this is true, the airline will surely go bust or "scrape, bang boom!".

I agree that you guys should ge the union in.

Aviation is getting sader and sader.

I hate to interupt a good old fashioned stake burning...But I have spoken to many pacblue pilots who really enjoy the job. Most of them seem to appreciate the opportunity to fly the 800 and live in NZ. It would be nice to hear from some of them on here...

I certainly agree that the company does leave a few things to be desired and hence my application will remain unpenned. However, I do think that this post provides merely one opinion (which we are certainly all entitled to), of which I have heard many to the contrary.

I have no affiliation with pacblue whatsoever.

Happy New Years everyone.
RS

Hmm this would be a great time then to start a new domestic airline.

Wasn't that Branson's line ? :8

Quote:
My prediction is that PB will be gone in 6 months.
From what I can see I would very much doubt PB would be gone in six months, more likely we'll be seeing a great deal more of them in the future.
This is nothing more than a few teething problems from a rapidly expanding Airline. Both Air New Zealand and Qantas have gone through similiar problems in the past.
Knurled Knob, you are misrepresenting the facts regarding the days off. PB pilots get rostered 9 days a month off with the ability to work IPD days IF THEY CHOOSE TO DO SO down to a minimum number of 6. Of course more days off a month would be greatfully recieved by those Pilots who are there for the lifestyle I'm sure!

I don't know Dashim, If they keep paying Turbo-prop wages (those now being touted as whoefully insufficient in the current environment), not to mention the sub-standard conditions, then something will have to give.

If PB can continue to find suitably qualified people willing to bend over and grab their ankles, well good luck to them. Meanwhile the rest of us just stand back and shake our heads!

Probably should just keep out of this, its none of my business really, but just what is the pay for PB 737 crew compared to say the VB & J* crew?

Approximate or % of will do....

J:ok:

Jaba,

DJ F/O pay is more than PacBro Command pay, if you do the sums with the exchange rate. And that is without the 9% Aussie super.

Cheers,

Con:ok:

If this is true and Pilots are returning to VB, then surely they would be starting again in the RHS. So one good thing they are home again and not missing out on any less Johnny C.

The other side of this coin indicates they are prepared to leave their command/seniority? behind because of the issues raised.

All things being equal which in this thread, it is clearly not, the management are failing to address core issues....morale which relates to paying your staff industry rates, training and safety systems which relates to paying your training staff staff industry rates, credible rosters that provide lifestyle or credible financial incentives and employing or contracting people that are qualified and paying them industry rates, :ugh: the list is exhaustive thats why they the managers can proudly say they run budget airlines, cheap seats generated by cheap managers who fail to see the value of quality staff :oh: sorry you are contractors.

The options are out their boys and girls let the management explain themselves at their next round table AGM when suddenly their work force is in a state of disrepair.

Do the contractors have seniority....anybody?

MrAnderson to answer your Q, no there is no seniority system in place with the contractors at PB.

It is stunning that the managment team have not issued any reassuring statements to the staff given the past weeks' 'indescretion' in Sydney
and the articles over the past few days in 'The Press' newspaper regarding the fact that the OTP is woeful and a large number of passengers have been stranded. The GM made a statement to the press that the disruption was due to unscheduled maitanence!!

Thats a nice way to say 'one of our aircraft suffered significant damage' (possibly due to a fatigued and frustrated pilot)

Maybe its time Mr Godfrey took another look at the way PB is being run (or not) as the case may be. Your average joe public would not have any idea that the seat they purchased to fly (for eg.) Bne to Nan is operated by Pacific Blue and that PB are a seperate company whose pilots and cabin crew are all contractors working for significanty less than their Virgin counterparts. All Mr Joe Public sees is a red plane with the Virgin brand splashed across the menus and digi players onboard, so when this flight is canned at the last minute with not so much as a ' sorry about that' from the contracted ground staff it does huge damage to 'The Brand' that the marketing gurus hold so precious. Its not so much PB that gets a bad wrap but Virgin.

JB..! That old dinosaur never really managed to get his mind above Bristol Freighters! Sat around Ansett NZ proudly re-arranging the office (buzz phrases included) while the airline went down the gurgler. Put this one out to pasture and you may be able to save your airline.

So not only do they treat you as contractors they treat the product with the same contempt...sad for all concerned, my only hope is the red plane doesn't feature again the way it has scraaaaapppppppppped and skiddddddddded it s way to public notoriety. Go you budget managers and go your LC model, seems to be working fine.

J* is employing and from what I understand you are actually employed and paid accordingly.

JQ Details?
Yes. See your PB Pilots Forum website. It's all there.
It's all true and very sad to see, especially when there was so much opportunity to do otherwise, instead of screwing your best asset - workers at the coalface, with an FMS that creates the very thing it's said to avoid and a disgraceful rise in DTA (20 cents)... etc etc
Many Ex Ansett NZ people widespread in Management (and it shows!:ugh:) has the workers worried, given their track record.

Like I said, dinosaurs, they are stuck in the Ansett time warp. Jet Connect has the same AN problems too. Not only industrially, but they are also operationally inept as well. Move them on or you are history. Plenty of jobs for 737 pilots in Japan.

So this group of highly specialised line managers are employed? By who?

The whole airline, whoops LCC group, is operated by contractors...is it not?

So if they, being the managers are x ansett NZ, the one and the very same that delivered lock out notices whilst the airline shuffled deck chairs on the titanic a short while back, how do they pass the fit and proper person scrutiny that your CAA have in place.

This all seems very country cousin time, knee slapping stuff yo all.

Yup the current GM is ex AN NZ ops manager. The current PB ops manager gleefully handed out a few lockout notices in some sort of management capacity and the guy who owns one of the contract companies (currently employing PBs pilots) was the line ops manager of AN NZ. He orchestrated a fair bit of AN's demise too. All a bit cosy really. They all sat on the deck as the ship sank, congratulatng each other on their sucesses. To this day they still believe that they paid no part in it and as a result believe that they have recut the key to good airline management :}.

aipai

1000 TT, 100 multi NO TURBINE who have links with their DADDYS!!!! from years gone by!!


Hmmmmmmm....
It seems all very well to help people out by way of contacts and associates but surely the airline has minimum stds and requirements before the nepotisim stoops to the level suggested.

Also if this is true surely the "sons or daughters" have to have had successfully completed a type rating by an approved organisation.

Perhaps the fish are swimming here and the size is questionable or your source is just sauce, of the tomato brand.