Flying in Cyprus/Crete
 

Hi all

I heard a rumour the other day that some of us will be flying out of Cyprus this summer. Any news on the agreement? Is this only for a certain company?

what do you fly , who do you fly for, why is your address UK -thought it was Canadian Forum ? It IS relevant.

I fly for a UK 737 operator and was wondering if they need contract pilots for the summer as the idea of spending some time under the sun sounds quite appealing. Why is it relevant. I just heard a rumour from a canadian captain who has some friends going over there.

Yes , your Canadian friends are coming over to Cyprus , and us contractors are losing our jobs because of it , and the Cypriot Pilots union are in an uproar over it . I have been here for nearly 2 years , contracted until Oct 08 , now terminated , leaving on Thursday. Please pass on my profound thanks to your friends. Not their fault of course , all cooked up at management level , but does not make it any better.
Safe flying
KK

I am sorry to hear that perhaps my canadian friends could throw some light on the matter.

Cypres
 

Are we talking about 'Jazz' here? If so, whens the contract start?

I heard that it was Sunwing pilots that will be based in Cyprus this summer.

Yes thats what i heard also.Sunwing.
Do you know iif the base will be cyprus or crete?What sort of contract is it?

Cypriot Pilots are not taking the issue lightly!
Already the company involved, has problems with a certain stance the union is having and now they are on negotiating table.'
So nothing solid yet!

Ps Rgds to Kotakota, it was a pleasure flying with you sir ;)

Levantes, what would the ECA pilots rather have - Canadians or EU contractors flying your EU a/c?

Niether actually! The a/c should be manned by permanent ECA crew.
But as an interim solution contractors could be considered for a specific time period.

Given that ECA is predominately a charter airline whose work is highly seasonal, it would not make good economic sense for the airline to have a full complement of permanent crew year round. No charter airline could contemplate or afford this.

Perhaps it is time ECA pilots accepted reality and the inevitable. Better to safeguard the future of the airline by negotiating how many summer only contract pilots can be employed.

Circe2, I see that you have a very good knowledge on how charter bussiness is working right now!
Perhaps you could enlighten us more with your views!

I agree with Circe2. Given the seasonality of the business, keeping a full time compliment of pilots for a half-time operation is a tough pill for the company to swallow. It would be different if every competitor had to follow the same rule, but at present they don't. If you were smart, you would be looking to negotiate reciprocal crew sharing agreements with the foreign operator(s) who will supply the temporary summer pilots to your operation. Two UK companies have done so with my Canadian company, and it's worked relatively well for several years.

I guess we are not that smart then!
Happy flying all over the world:rolleyes:

Well, judging by the accents, these European registered a/c are being flown by Canadian pilots - Sunwings' perhaps?

Actually canadian registered aircraft!
The dispute is still on going and escalating!

Are pilots from Cyprus coming to Canada to fly for Sunwing this winter?

No!
Already most of us close to 700 hrs with a demanding winter schedule!
One aircraft in SSH, one maybe two in WAW and all the recurrent training still to be done!
Mind you, summer season in Cyprus starts in late March early April depending when Easter comes!

Sounds like you need some contract pilots:) (only joking!)