Career advice for Pilots..

[Banana Joe]

So what degree would you suggest?

[Flying Clog]

I would say IT or an Engineering degree.

[JustinHeywood]

Originally Posted by cabbages

'Chinese airlines are already up to 90% capacity...……..'

As is always the case with China, everything is not quite as it appears. The increase in seat capacity has been ordered by the Chinese Communist Party and is not a result of passenger demand, despite massive government subsidies on ticket prices. If that 90% figure is an accurate quote from the Chinese regulator, then it has been artificially manufactured purely for propaganda.

so..., the Chinese airlines story is not true, and if it is true then it’s still not true, cos YOU know we’re all doomed.

Covid is undoubtedly a global catastrophe, but NOBODY knows how it will play out. It virtually came out of nowhere, and the severity and longevity of its effects are unknowns.

I’m not sure what the doomsayers are trying to achieve with posts like this, but they add nothing to the crisis or it’s solution.

[Flying Clog]

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the Chinese are laying on flights to make FR24 look a bit lively, and boost the economy with some empty flights knocking about, but who cares?

The point I'm trying to make is most of us who aren't relatively senior in their legacy or loco airlines should be using their time wisely.

[Spunky Monkey]

Could I put a different point of view, that might help.

On 11 Sept 2001 I was studying for my ATPLs having just resigned my Military Commission. I was sat in a classroom with other students when the horrific news came in. Driving home that night I thought the aviation business was finished and I would never get a flying job.

I set up a small business the next day, which grew and I still run to this day.

However I made a big mistake, the aviation business was not done for, infact it probably had the greatest rise ever from there. I was on the outside looking in and due to the growth of my business I couldn't leave. Eventually it grew large enough to employ managers and I started my career as an FO. Only 2 years later to hit a proper recession and was made redundant. I went back to my business and grew it.

Late last year I started applying for jobs again and was hoping to start in May!

Business is cyclical, you can stare at your navel and wonder why me, or you can batten down the hatches, cut costs and ride out the storm. Because it will come back. The Proles want holidays to the sun, a lot of business is still face to face and there is too much money involved for aviation not to recover.


There are a lot of people who after this will be so looking forward to their summer holiday that as soon as flights start again and countries open their boarders it will be all hands to the pump.

[AIMINGHIGH123]

Originally Posted by Flying Clog

I would say IT or an Engineering degree.

No, if you want recession proof job.

Accountancy. Doctor probably number 1 but I doubt many have time to retrain for that.

Im banking on things picking up it 6 months. Why?
Governments are pumping all this money in. They wouldn’t be doing it if they thought this would go on for a long time.

[Flying Clog]

Yes, I was going to say Accountancy as well, but 25 years in aviation makes my stomach crawl when it comes to bean counters. But you're not wrong. And most of us 40 year olds are too old to retrain as doctors, even if we weren't thick as planks.

[cabbages]

Calm down dear, I said nothing about being 'doomed'. I offered an opinion about whats happening with domestic flying in China. But thanks for your input, I'm sure we can all rest a lot easier now.

[FLCH]

Burial business never goes out of style.

My wife's ex is in that gig, he works six days a week.

[RexBanner]

If it all goes as bad as you say I wouldn’t put too much faith in your 10-15 years seniority, the courts will tell you LIFO in isolation (as far as Europe goes anyway) is dead in the water as it’s tantamount to age discrimination. Not only that but good luck getting an airline strapped for cash to shoulder the bill of retraining virtually the entirety of their remaining seniority list. What you’ll be seeing is redundancies by fleet and by seat, your position on the overall MSL will be largely irrelevant to this process. It will be dependent where in relation to the rest of the fleet you sit in your respective seat and even then it won’t be pure LIFO as it will have to be done within a matrix that encompasses other criteria.

[cappt]

Clog may be right. I’ve been flying since ‘98 and this time feels different. This morning I rode in back with three other crew members to reposition. This flight had two paying pax and four DHD crew, the crew (myself) have six booked pax for the return flight, of which three may show up. Why are we doing this? The season of 2020 is over. I along with twenty percent of my fellow pilots at our airline will be taking a thirty day leave starting April 1. Good luck everyone.

[ILS27LEFT]

The mother of all Crises...

The mother of all Crises...and then the Mother of all the rebounds.
i genuinely believe the rebound will be massive.
A vaccine or new anti viral cure will allow the industry to fully recover.
It will not happen overnight but people will travel again and even more than before Covid19. The world response to new viruses will be completely different in the future, there will be an anti virus global Alliance similar to NATO. This Covid19 will change it all for the better. It is a one off event. The recovery will be massive.

[FE Hoppy]

I've been in the business, first military and them civil since 1989. In all my time i've never felt this negative about the industry. Realistically we are looking at 3 months before internal flights will start and maybe 18 months before a vaccine will allow international travel to open up. Now ask yourself, can my employer bleed cash long enough to exist that long? I understand the LH group is bleeding 1 Billion Euro's a month.

Good luck everyone. See you on the other side.

[giggitygiggity]

Originally Posted by FE Hoppy

I've been in the business, first military and them civil since 1989. In all my time i've never felt this negative about the industry. Realistically we are looking at 3 months before internal flights will start and maybe 18 months before a vaccine will allow international travel to open up. Now ask yourself, can my employer bleed cash long enough to exist that long? I understand the LH group is bleeding 1 million Euro's a month.

Good luck everyone. See you on the other side.

I assume you mean billion, if LH are only losing a million a month then we'll all be fine!

Originally Posted by Flying Clog

All of them on the piss. Enjoying their time off with their friends

Really? Everyone I know is just staying at home.

[mattyj]

Some people must be the life and soul of the party..
..if they ever get invited to one..

[Kenny]

Mate of mine on a 73 contract in China told me a couple of days ago, that they were planning to be back at 80% but only enough demand for 50%.

[cappt]

Originally Posted by Banana Joe

So what degree would you suggest?

Health care, nurse, radiology, physical therapy, etc.

[Retired DC9 driver]

Originally Posted by Commander Taco

I’m with Riskybis. The number of “end-of-days” pronouncements I’ve heard in a career that started in 1974.....I remember circa 1988 operating a flight as a B727 F/O. We had a young guy, who had just been to his pilot interview with us, ask the captain if he could ride the flight deck with us. After we finished the round of introductions, the very first question the captain asked was: “Why would you want to come with a dying airline”.

That same interviewee has himself been a captain for close to 20 years and is currently a very senior B787 captain. Yes, this one is very bad, but it too shall pass.

’Taco

If you are talking about an airline with a leaf on the tail, I just heard they are going ahead with a new-hire course in a month. Someone said a large course..People will need to fly.

[Johnny_56]

The main difference between this catastrophe and many of the others is the speed with which bad news is spreading.

We didn’t have smartphones at hand to pick up 100 times a day to double check how many people were infected. We didn’t have an easy way to access the rumours and predictions of those on PPRUNE.

Perhaps if we did the sky would have fallen harder during SARS/Swine fly/911. Perhaps things will recover like they did after those events.

The response is definitely more severe but hopefully the recovery will be just as effective.

There will still be 7 billion people on the planet and hopefully they will want to go on holidays at some stage.

[Cusco]

Originally Posted by Banana Joe

So what degree would you suggest?

Forget degrees : London Underground drivers earn a nice little wad, more than many an O’Leary employee for doing a very similar job and getting to sleep in their own bed every night