Sorry boys, but I fail to understand what the old management (heads) etc...is still doing here, when Ad is looking for corruption?

It was not the crew that signed the contracts! So what are the ozzies still doing at GF....

Saw blondie off, but should it stop there?

Nope...sorry to disappoint there Haleleyani...sniffed around a bit like my life here staying home watch this space!!!! Ironbus57

nice one ironbus,

check this guys

http://careers.etihadairways.com/ehi...aspx?NEWS_ID=8

this is new, looks like no need to sack any cabin crew after all.

There are lots of people welling to work for Gulfair if you are not one then don’t criticise.
Middle east is in a unstable situation currently alba, babco, local banks and gulf air etc Have the same problem so we have to wait and see for the best.
Tourism industry is expanding in Bahrain keep are fingers crossed.
lol

yes I bet 119! just make sure they are working out of Gulf Air and not BJ's....for your brethern.

Tourism maybe expanding, but at this rate Bahrain and Gf will be synonymous with patpong...

The day you take it seriously, maybe others will!

pilots get Married
 

GDN NEWS Bachelors will not be allowed to live in reidential Area.
of course Bahrain moving forward Toruism Rising.
Solution GF will provide bachelors pilots a Hangar in BahInt Airport.No rent to pay just sby .
Solution 2.Pilots get married to Cabin Crew.You can live in residential areas and Cabin crew will be HappY ever after .and no need to go for the EY interview at Movenpik..

By saying that if AD doesn't change his strategy towards the pilots ,he'll end up with no one flying his birds ,excuse me if you are regarding to the locals than i'll agree but the expats no way. I just recieved a call from a 76 pilot and 99% of the pilots that applied for the A320 courses are expats ,whom one day said that if the company decides to phase out the 76 we are not staying.......this goes to all the guys that post stuff that they can't stick to and please stop back st***ing.......P.S. First course A320 doesn't even have senior guys.....It has Mr.Ib and his buddy J.Scott.L........Cheers :ok:

Tides change. Lets just hope our beloved carrier is not begging ppl to stay come a few months down the road and ppl's options start materialising. The 767 guys have been caught off guard. Wont be long before they get themselves in order and go on the offensive. The way the aviation industry is booming today and when you're not the biggest player in the market, I would think very carefully about how I treat my crew since similar positions are in abundance with much, much, much better conditions. Flt Deck & Cabin crew are not GOD's but they're the hottest property in demand at the moment. Just look at the EY recruitment page. Then again there's always the BAN.............

Eh, ban? What ban, honey?

There is no more ban....ended a week ago....folks are free now to pursue what suits them...:ok:

Reach69...when have I posted something I didnt stick to???

99% of the pilots that applied for the A320 courses are expats
 

Well Reach-69, it's easy to critize us but really hope you don't have to face the situation that we are facing now, thousand of miles away from home, taken by surprise with the decision of phasing out the 767's and with this "take the A-320 option or get the f*&%.k out of here", with bank loans, kids in school,etc. Evidently, in your case, can even consider to quit GF, stay in the area (home) and start looking for another option like EK, EY, QR, etc. In our case, it'd be way more difficult since our visas are dependant on this GF contract so no GF no visa, thus, get the f*&%$..k out of the middle east. Applying for this A-320 is the only thing we can do now and again, the situation is take it or leave it. What would you do in our cases? Keep you pride and quit? I seriously doubt it mate.:=

Yes ban is over...but you think they cannot impose one just as easily as they did in the past?surely if they see too many guys jumping ship they will talk to the habibi's across the road and impose a ban again...Thats what i meant SPIRIT HONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Secondly desert storm i know it must be tough on you guys...but you all didn't even put up a fight..u raised the white flag before the battle..my only conclusion is that most of you have no where better to go..accepting 320 is ok but signing a US$60000 bond without even questioning anything when EK offering wide body for US$36000 is madness....Do u guys just accept everything at face value?

Strats...the bond issue is never ideal, some will find it unacceptable and leave..GF have too many pilots at present, and some will leave, others find themselves in the position of making the "lesser of two evils" choice...once numbers all align, you might see a change in the situation here at GF...so the choice is to commit for three years, remain on present fleet, or shop elsewhere...:uhoh:

desert storm..wouldn't look at it as losing face or your pride..look at it as a FORDEC exercise..the facts have changed, so the options have as well...so inevitably the decision may have to be reviewed as well:ok:

100% Pax
 

Rest assured I am a GF pax people (70% F 30% J). I can recite the safety video (in Arabic or English) off by heart and am lifetime Gold.:)

My observations come from sitting and observing, talking and meeting many people from the Pink Palace during my transits or business visits in/to BAH.
Let alone the many 'd and m's' I've had with your cabin managers(female of course) the males ehemm, read LOCALS, where never to be seen or disinterested at best or too busy announcing on the PA that "we were leaving planet earth" further consolidating GF's unprofessional side.

I liked GF F first because it was cheaper than J on most other carriers. The service up front was fantastic 95% of the time. I had only to contend with a cabin of 8 pax and TWO lavs! The food was always immaculate. I did miss a few necessary amenities and a more modern IFE, however, but I got what I paid for - a VERY comfy bed I could sleep in. I also enjoyed the very human BAH airport..transits and lounges and not having to step over people to get to my plane..read DXB city zoo. GF's 30-40 min transits and my bags never once got lost. Well done BAH airport services:D:ok:

I average 15 sectors in a 3 week period when I fly to GCC for business. GF's schedules are unmatched. I fly mostly ultra long haul from SYD(which is soon to be no longer) and to LHR and CDG.

All GF needed to do was have decent IFE and consistant good quality cabins and the likes of EK EY or QR really had nothing on GF.

I also enjoyed BAH as a city, very relaxed traffic, tolerable and it's population who IMO are only 2nd to Omani's in terms of friendliness.

A little narrative to get a loyal pax perspective.:8

Oddy

PS If anyone from GF management ever needs a pax perspective for future developments..let me at it - more than happy to constructively assist!:E

Thanks for that ODDY...think it will get even better:ok: and as for the "leaving planet earth" PA...yup been there heard that...think that bloke has been gone from planet earth himself for quite some time...but he is good with the crews though:O

Stratosphere6K, then GF would have to have bans imposed on them from God knows how many different carriers, not only in the region.

Like you, I also plan for worst-case scenarios, but if GF would even try to take a step, like the above mentioned, they would loose all credibility.
Okay, GF does not exactly have a solid reputation to them for making sound decisions, but to do something like this, would make a lot of guys (myself included) prefer jumping ship, and instead applying for a job as a schoolbusdriver in downtown Cairo...or Basra.

I might even get away with only signing a 12000 BD trainingbond over 3 years, to drive kids to and from school morning and evening...:}

Gulf Air Problems
 

Now you all know ---- so whats next... even people at the top dont know what next to do?

Clamp on concessional tickets

GULF Air yesterday announced it was scrapping or drastically reducing free
ticket and discount travel available "to certain parties".

In future, this rebated ticket facility will only be extended to Gulf Air's
direct employees, current board members and parties covered under IATA and
the airline's commercial obligations, it said.

"All other parties which are currently benefiting from this facility will no
longer be given any free of charge or concessional tickets in the future,"
said the airline.

"Gulf Air's past free and reduced fare policy has been substantially
revamped to ensure a better control and monitoring system is in place.

"Accordingly, a new ticket concession policy and procedure has been
presented and approved by the board of directors."

The news follows an announcement earlier this month that the airline was
making massive cutbacks as a result of huge financial losses

upgrade time for GF F/O
 

Looks like time to upgrate will be much longer than expected!!!!:\ ,specially with the first group of capt's 767 transfered to A320 ,second group will be in 2008 :{ CIAO SEE YOU IN ARABIA OR EY

I wonder if GF will be in the unique position of being an airline that in a six month period went from being short of crew, to having 80 too many to once again being so short that they can't crew flights:confused: I think the fact that other airlines are coming to Bahrain to recruit may convince those sitting on the fence that now is a good time to leave. ATH down to three a week with no onwards connection to SYD, how long before that sector gets the chop?

Hot off the press.

Command upgrades have been suspended.

I suspect this will be the final straw for many good colleagues who have invested many years of service in this airline.

What are you lads on the third floor doing?

Do you not realize that your actions will backfire? The exodus will be swift and en-mass.

Good luck to all, it has been an honour and a true pleasure to work with you for the past 20 years.

If all those FO's were worried about commands slowing down, now it may get even worse. Read this article in GDN. Looks like GF gonna get even smaller than expected. Printing error? maybe..but how many of you are gonna take this sort of a gamble when all this has happened. I've said it a million times. GF and Bahrain have massive potential. Unfortunately GF is only attractive for two kinds of pilots right now. Guys who need an opportunity to fly jets and those who are already commanders and are settled here. Those FO's with enough jet time or young captains who aspire for greater challenges, just not attractive. Im sure a lot of us would like to see GF succeed. Question is are many prepared to take the risk and end up waiting endlessly for new challenges when other carriers will offer you similar in half the time? Its all up to the individual but I know most guys don't want to stagnate in their careers.....READ ON!!!!

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story...&IssueID=30052

The lies never stop. what a load of bu****.

Boilermaker did you expect the lies to stop?

Wishfull thinking

Well, no not really. What I find incredible is that how people have the guts to say a straight out lie right next to the crown prince and then get away with it. Actually, it is the getting away with it part that always amazes me with no one bothering to check-up on the accuracy such statements.

And now the same guys will create the same disaster next door.:D
EY wiil be just a copy of the so called successful restructuring of GF.:yuk:

They all lie in the Middle east, what's important is who's the highest paying liar:E

The GDN report on GF also refers to " Laughter being the best medicine"......
and healthy for you.....I expect healthy Mr Hogan is laughing all the way to his bank...and goood luck to him...as he goes back for seconds in Auh...could MCT be next...then off to India?
Should one laugh or cry at the many many times GF gets screwed over again and again in every department over the years?...probably laughter is more healthy.
Tomorrow happily is the retired on (no Gf pension) expat crews reunion in London....the crews who served Gf well from 1974 to 2002ish on the F27/B737/L1011/and Airbus fleets...pity if their one free (husband+wife) retirement ticket after 20years service has now been scrapped.....and they now use Ryanair with 100% less hassle for retirement travel.
These crews made huge efforts 1974 to 2000... like you have done since the crash... and some stayed loyal and waited for things to get better....for most who stayed it never did....the only advantage I found was long term expat tax status for some nationalities as their investment income often became equal to or sometimes double their Gf salery....secure their Gf employment effort fell off as they aged and the reality..... that things would in fact never get better at GF for crews struck....despite having flown through two wars...flown on days off...given up leave... etc etc Gf employment became secondary to their portfolio management....as things would never get better at GF.
The crash was well talked up as an inevitable outcome of managers actions and several trainers and pilots did not hang around to see it happen.
I reallyhope it all works out for you crews who have made huge efforts like we did for GF.
I appreciate the efforts you have all made since the crash to keep the GF show afloat..and I hope you all stay as lucky as I did.
Incidentaly I do not know any pilot in my 26years at GF who moved or was removed from GF who regretted it 3 years on.

Some good ol words of wisdom there from my mate scan. He's seen it all boys and if in his 26 years things didnt get better I seriously doubt they'll start now. After all he did live through GF's golden age, we then went through the silver, bronze..........and now it's back to the stone age.

Cheers
Fluffies

Comment from one of our favourites IB57. Just an article which certainly proves GF are not the trend setters as some would like to believe. Whether EY can do it is just as big a gamble as whether or not GF can. I would still put my money on EY though.

Etihad targets 2010 for first profits
By Brendan Sobie

Etihad Airways plans more rapid network and fleet growth but warns it will chalk up another three years of losses and needs another capital infusion.

The Abu Dhabi-based carrier's new management team, which includes chief executive officer James Hogan and executive vice-president finance James Rigney, has completed a new business plan that projects the first break even result in 2010. Etihad launched services in late 2003 and has quickly expanded its network to nearly 40 destinations.

"In the first three years there were trading losses and in the next three years there will be trading losses, which is not unexpected," Rigney says. "The new business plan has the business achieving break even in 2010. What was important to our shareholder is we build a realistic business plan."

Etihad is not disclosing the extent of its losses but says it is on track to generate $1.3 billion in revenues in 2007 and carry over 4 million passengers. In the first quarter of 2007 it generated 712 million dirham ($194 million) in revenues, a 208% increase over the same period last year, despite only a 130% increase in capacity. Yields improved by 19% and load factors surged from 54.5% to 68.3%.

Rigney reveals Etihad is close to completing a recapitalisation with its shareholder, Abu Dhabi's government: "What is required is the right level of capitalisation and the right level of corporate and financial governance of a business of this magnitude. What was required for the first three years was different."

Rigney says that since he and Hogan joined Etihad from Gulf Air in October they have drafted a new manual of authority and put into place stronger and more detailed reporting lines. Better inventory and pricing controls have been implemented and Etihad has begun hedging its fuel costs. "A large part of our business plan is to have a very efficient cost base and to maximise our revenues," Rigney says.

He adds the government has tasked the new management team to carry out a financial restructuring and run the airline purely commercially without any subsidies. "When we came the airline just became three years old. To go from start-up to 24 aircraft in three years is very fast. It was a major operational focus. After three years we move into a new phase. We're a new airline but no longer a start-up."

The carrier's passenger fleet will expand from 21 to 31 aircraft in 2007, giving it the capacity to launch several new routes. Etihad added two destinations in the first quarter and will add another four by the end of this summer. It is looking to add another five by end of 2007, giving it 47 destinations in total.

Etihad is now only committed to acquiring four additional aircraft beyond 2007 - four Airbus A380s which will not be delivered until 2009 and 2010. But Etihad's new business plan includes continued rapid growth and Rigney says it will secure the additional capacity it needs for 2008 and beyond within the next two months. "There will be significant growth in the next five years," promises Rigney.

He adds Etihad is now talking to Airbus and Boeing about additional widebodies and its first narrowbodies, which are needed to further develop its Abu Dhabi hub.

Just like he did with GF?

"The mandate I have is to consolidate and like any good shareholder they want to see tha airline break even and make a return. That's the clear brief I have," said Hogan, the Australian-born former Gulf Air chief executive. "We haven't published any figures, but you can imagine, starting up with an airline as we have, there are a lot of capital costs. It's not in profit yet, but there is a clear mandate to bring it to break-even and profitability."

When (and how) does he expect to do that? "We haven't made that public yet. I'll tell the shareholders first and then I'll tell you."

:zzz: Talk is cheap and seeing is believing. What furniture does Etihad have that he can sell?

Exactly my point. So what makes you so confident about GF doing it? If you read between the lines of my comments I implied seeing is believing. My point was lets not get carried away and think GF will be the pioneer and trend setter. Also a lot of you think James Hogan destroyed this airline and so he will do it at EY. Did you ever consider how much power he did have to make big changes over here? He has said in an interview that the most upsetting thing was when the board opted not to hedge the fuel prices which were totally against his beliefs. We all know about the losses incurred by being short sighted about that. He sold assets, these guys downsizing. Same outcome different route? Also if the future of EY is to be judged by Hogans past achievements then we should forcast GF's future based on the acomplishments of GF's CEO n COO.......right???????

Its amazing that some guys blame Hogie for the GF demise, I am no great lover of the man but how can he take the rap for the last 25 years of cheating/stealing/nepotism and general corruption that has brought a once well respected airline to its knees.

Im sure any old timer in GF will recall the massive amounts that went missing under certain countries leadership!...with no one being brought to task over it. Is it any wonder that UAE got fed up with it?

Yet another 3rd rate loser has been put in charge and he is expected to resurect the fortunes of the airline, sorry folks but its an impossible task with what is left....start again with a clean sheet of paper.
Its time to stop living in the past, the heydays are gone, there is now competition in the gulf region so its survival of the fittest...

Good luck to one and all:ok:

I reckon that's precisely what they are in the process of doing..in many ways lots of stumbling blocks from the good old days disappeared...others overhauled...if they are left to the task, then hopefully it works out...JH was hamstrung with a lot of his plans due to govt's infighting and squabbling over who gets what and where, now the logisitcs headaches of multiple hubs and owners are a thing of the past, maybe this can succeed keeping fingers crossed...

There's a sweet message from our COO mr naf in our aims, I want to say him at least on my behalf that he has enough time to convince many people who are planning to leave, at least a month maybe 2 months, I personally will wait until september or so before I give my resignation, so let's see what he has got to offer.

Hele

I think two months or Sept you might miss a lot of whats available NOW

but good luck with whatever you decide personally i think

its time to get on a raft and start pedalling


S.L. 20+ yrs ....... gf

GF outflux
 

never seen anyting like it mate :eek:

Leave everythin come this way! Jump Jump!:E

Pilots poaching
 

More than 100 Pilots were poached last week from Bahrain , the biggest ever poaching of it’s kind in the history of Bahrain ,
as representatives from the rival Airlines landed at Bahrain International Airport last week, carrying with them bags of jobs offers , and were told by there bosses “ just go and get as much as you can “ , they did not have to go to fare to Start there poaching , posts were positioned around the Airport , at a nice cozy hotel next to Gulf Air headquarter, and by the end of the day a hefty list of a highly experienced Airline Pilots were flown back , this week they will be back again for some more poaching .

Even though it’s not a very good news for our ailing national carrier , and it could have not come at a worse time , but , it’s also unconceivable to see some of those veteran Pilots who spent years with there families on this soil take such a hasty Decision which is mostly based on emotions , as if there live hoods is in danger of collapsing ? Pilots demand is on the rise , so the more one wait , the better it will get, thus, switching jobs , or starting a new life at the cost of the live hoods of ones family and children’s might not be the best thing one should do or rush into without proper plans and investigations , just because someone said that the : “grass is greener on the other side “ !

I believe that BAHRAINI pilots have now been banned from going to Etihad for political reasons.

Discover,

I believe you omitted to mention that the text you posted is from a letter posted in the GDN from a certain Mr Ishaq Kooheji. Mr Kooheji is obviously either missinformed or oblivious to what's going on in GF.

I fear no one's decision is taken in hast, it was taken after reading that 1500 EXPAT crew will be sacked and after Mr Naf advised that potentially up to 200 pilots will be either sacked or given a warning.