Sounds like you got a pretty good chance then!

Although I imagine the security pass would need clearing again. Just hold on for a few months and fire off your CV to the main companies and cross your fingers. As with all jobs, some relative experience is always better than none, and handling agents DEFINATELY hire staff with zero airside experience for the busy summer season.

But I think in the case of Gate Aviation, what they needed now was people with existing knowledge who they could just "refresh" in these weeks so that they had an experienced team in place for the start of the contract. I never saw the advert on the website, so can't really say, but I bet they were hoping to get ex-airport staff, or even to pinch staff from other companies, which is what it sounds like they got!

RTG,

Thats the problem.......I don't really have anything relevant to put on a CV other than i've worked in TY for 25 years!

K77.

More information.

The management team behind Gate Aviation at Newcastle are apparently all experienced in handling, largely ex Swissport management I am told. So they should be more than capable of handling the situation.

What worries me, is that this company is going to go from a few Jetstreams with long turnarounds, to 30minute ones with Easy 737's and 319's, and I am told that the ground staff at Gate have had little to no practical experience with Easyjet and these larger aircraft, let alone dealing with a totally different type of passenger. I don't suppose there are many drunken hen parties and football fans flying out to Stavanger with Eastern.

Anyone care to make predictions as to how the handover is going to go?

I feel that there is going to be a few teething problems, but they have at least 70+ exp easyjet staff ( FOH Disp Ramp) so in theory is shouldnt be to bad once the "gate" staff are up to speed with EZY rules and regs then it should be painless, providing the kit gate have getten is up to scratch.

Gate have a good chance to make it here, get this right and there is no limits to what they can do, get it wrong and i feel they might be very red faced!!

There is no doubt that there will be teething problems but i think that will be expected by all concerned. With regards to staff. Current staff are by and large all ex swissport staff and will have dealt with all the easyjet type of passengers before. The FOH staff currently employed will most likely stay with eastern as they wear the Eastern Uniform. So the current staff who are all experienced plus the new Tupe staff should make for an experienced company all in all. As with regard to aircraft sizes the staff I Know who work for gate all have experience on 757/767 aircraft aswell as Just a Jetstream.

I know a few of there ops staff have lengthy previous service, and most of the others have a good 2-3 years experience add into that the tupe staff from servisair, some of which i know are good too and it looks ok. the existing ramp staff are good and again with the experience from airways that should be fine too.
you will always get teething problems, with any change of GHA and i am sure ezy are expecting this for the first few weeks.
As for 30 min turnarounds its becoming pretty much industry standard these days.

Emirates at Heathrow like a 1Hr 45mins tunaround on their A380 !!!! Ugly looking critter !!!

well i expect 55 mins of that is just boarding the sheer no of pax! :}

But 25 mins for scheduled airlines is now the norm

Gate New Jobs?
 

Any insiders have any information on the Gate Aviation jobs front? I take they have fully staffed themselves in preparation for the EZY contract takeover.
I spoke to the member of staff in charge of HR and she said that all of the candidates would recieve a reply either way. Just a bit confused. Hopefully the jobs fair in march (if they have one!) will open up a few more doors for us outsiders.

I really hope the do have a jobs fair but I'm not holding my breath. Apparently Swissport are laying off staff at the moment.

servisair - loosing staff threw tupe/ being finished ( taken into account summer wrk)
swissport - finishing staff
gate avi - fully staffed to cope

i think the jobs fair will only throw up secuirty/AOU :sad::sad::sad::sad:

i think the jobs fair will only throw up secuirty/AOU

Security / Landside Operations is a possibility. Airside Operations, definately not :{

Good luck

I'd be happy in airport security to be honest and maybe special assistance, something like that. I would of expected nothing more from the Handling Agents. Derichebourg might have something for us!

Well I have flown into and out of NCL with Easyjet since the takeover, and it seems like Gate have got their act together pretty damn quick. Their equipment looks to be in good order, and the flight left on time, despite the fact they were clearly training up a new dispatcher as well.

All in all looking very professional. But wow... the airstairs they are using are steep! Very very steep!

Did anyone travel on the day they took over?

Latest rumour.... (and I repeat rumour)

Gate have secured another significant NCL contract though it hasnt been made public except to the top levels. It is also apparently a "largely seasonal one". (any guesses?)

Also that a second wave of recruitment is in the pipeline for february. They arent going to advertise new jobs, but they will be looking for a few airside jobs fulltime, and the usual seasonal staff too. They will be going through those that applied when the jobs were advertised online first, so there is still hope for those that were ignored at the EZY contract.

RTG!

Both NCL airport and Servisair both began advertising on their website for seasonal staff today. Disptchers, ramp, passenger agents, security etc...

Get in early folks! Its only likely to be part time, but theres usually plenty of overtime about, and its a good starting point for newbies!

ReadyToGo

My appliations have already been sent off. I sent them yesterday as soon as the jobs were advertised.

swissport
 

job loses at ncl

Seems funny that Swissport are making cutbacks, while Servisair and gate are recruiting for the busy summer season. Is there a major contract(s) that are likely to change hands.

Swissport have/had some big seasonal contracts, Thomsonfly, Monarch, Eurocypria... does someone upstairs know one of them is going to Gate or Servisair?

RTG!

Servisair Jobs
 

I've sent all of my applications off for this summer and Servisair were the first to respond to me, thus interview tomorrow at 10! Just doing my Servisair research at the moment, need a list of airline customers at Newcastle though. Could anyone help me out on that one?

Good luck to all those applying.

What about Onur or Balkan? Will be interesting to see who they've nabbed mind, if it is true of course.

I had my interview last week. I was in around 15 minutes. However, if I get offered the job, I'm not going to take it as it's only £5.80 per hour, no shift allowance etc that you used to get a few years ago. I wouldn't be able to manage on the wage. To make it match my current wage, I would have to work 15 hours overtime per week, and that's if any overtime is offered. If you were given a shift allowance, I would take it (if it was offered to me) but not now. You get asked about giving excellent customer service, receiving bad customer service, what you think the role entails, why you want to work for Servisair etc. Good luck!

Servisair at NCL. (I think...)

Brussels Airways
Aer Lingus
Thomas Cook
Ryanair
Aer Arran
and nearly all dedicated Cargo flights.

Theres a better list somewhere in the "Who handles who" thread.

ReadyToGo
 

Cheers for that, it wasnt required during the interview, I was expecting a 'what do you know about Servisair?' question but it was generally very customer service focused. My favourite question was 'what are the three key attributes to have as an excellent passenger service agent' I felt I answered it very well and they seemed pleased.

Hopefully I'll get it, would prefer to work for them than the airport itself, they seemed a very nice bunch. But obviously, if I get offered one job I'll snap it up without thinking about it! Its a good chance for the newbies to 'break into the industry.'

Now its time for the long wait :bored:

yeah you know what the salary is and i have to go there on thrusday for my interview for bagagae handler is that what you applied for what did you ansewar to that question

My interview was a lot more customer focused because I applied for passenger service agent. I am guessing your interview will be alot about team work, health and safety, target setting and problem solving? Then again could be wrong.
Think about the job and industry specific in the interview. I wasnt asked, what are three key attributes to deliver excellent customer service, I was asked what makes an excellent Passenger Service Agent, providing good customer service in an airport is different to customer service in a shop for example.
The interview is very relaxed, you are taken up to level 3 with two people, they just give you a chat to start off with, outlining the job and the hours along with the training courses, the interview then started. Pretty textbook stuff, be prepared with situational answers. "When have you given good customer service?" "When have you received bad customer service" and maybe even "When have you worked effectively in a team?" etc etc.
Its very chilled out, just relax and enjoy it.


This is all just my view though, I am not an interviewer or anything. From my interpretation of the interview.
Good luck.

swissport
 

draging heels on pay offs not nice every body waiting

Read the e-mail yesterday saying that I didnt get the Servisair job :( However today I got a phone call from the airport itself saying that they were holding a presentation on thursday, can anybody shed any light on what this actually is? Is there an interview involved?

Got my 'presentation' at the airport tomorrow, not quite sure what to expect. Anyone else heard back for the seasonal vacancies?

I didn't get the Servisair job either. I was at the NCL open morning yesterday and I really enjoyed it. You start off with an introduction about each other, then an intro about the airport and how it started off to the present day. Key people from different departments go through the roles and the department they work on. You then do a small presentation in groups on excellent customer service. After a break of around 30 minutes, you are then advised if you are through to an interview, which takes place in the afternoon. After the interview you then filli n starter forms just in case you get the job so they can get the ball rolling with your CRB checks and references etc. I left the airport at 4.45pm, so don't plan anything for the afternoon. Enjoy it, I did!!

Newcastle Open Morning
 

Wow, sounds like a long day. How many people were there and how many got through? I would love to get it so much. I take it you got through to an interview then, well done and good luck.

Does anyone know when NCL will be contacting people who had interviews last week?

They said around the end of Marchish, however they also said that they wanted some people to be fully signed/ trained up and on standby to start for around the beginning of April, so realistically, probably sometime after the weekend.

Gate Aviation now seeking seasonal staff!

I wonder if they have anything other than T3 and EZY up their sleeves?


RTG!

Planes on stands sideways
 

Hey, i was at the airport flying to London yesterday and i noticed that a number of planes were parked sideways on stand instead of nose in. Is this just a request from the airlines i.e Easyjet for qucker turnarounds or is it what the airport is starting to implement at quieter times of the day??

Thanks Philip

Most likely due to the high winds there have been recently, the aircraft sometimes get parked into the wind.

I flew in with Eastern today and noticed the same thing. We parked nose-out as well, and there wasn't much of a noticable wind.

RTG

If you were travelling on a T3 Saab2000 then it was probably parked nose out due to an unservicable towbar if there was no wind.

Yeah it was the Saab2000, cheers for clearing that up.

RTG

into wind
 

You can sometimes get problems with starting and/or control surface test problems with the wind from behind. Depending on the strength.