Life boat

Hello all,

I am somewhat surprised that no one in this forum has touched on the subject of Sterling being up **** creek...

Is this the beginning of the end, or....?

Where does this leave all the MPL students, that are currently training with Center Air / Sterling Airlines?

Or will Sterling repeat previous practice of sacking pilots, and as they are leaving the company new ones are coming through the revolving (revolting) door?

Any thoughts?????

Best regards,

Guttn

Ehhh we have, but it`s hiddn in another thread. Fact is they`ve been up that creek for awhile now unfortunately

Akktu Stakki

This is not the end,
This is not even the beginning of the end,
This is the end of the beginning

(Thanks to W.C)

Dissident

Ok... Sterling is by far the first candidate to bite the dust within a few short period of time! Oil, crew, lease-contracts and the never-ending stream of wet-leases will bring them down. Too bad really but in due time! Never shown black figures and keep on dumping ticket-prices, making it impossible to ever reach a more realistic and not over-established market as the Scandinavian has been for the last five years. I personally think Sterling should focus on their "own" market, the danish, in which they are well established.

Jobhunter

Glad I havent just enrollded in their MPL training!!

OsPi

According to this article (in Swedish) they will now dismiss 200 employees from flight deck and cabin.

Guttn

...which pretty much says that they couldn`t get onugh people to voluntarily resign/retire, thus they now have to furlough people using the "last in - first out" principle. Also, around 30 captains are to be degraded to first officers, and paid accordingly.

So where does this leave the MPL pilots? I`m guessing that they were amongst the last in, so.... But where can they go from here? Not really experienced yet, and holding a half-a$$ license doesn`t even open doors in third world aviation countries Unless they are "suddenly" ""offered"" to pay for some more hours to gain more "experience"

HZ123

Sterling Airways STN almost a daily visitor in the 70's.

Yeager

Im sorry for you guys who will be "hit" by the Sterling mis-management.

For Sterling itself, I couldnt care less. Companies like Sterling (and other **** paying "low cost" carriers that trying underbidding established carriers and selling tickets a stupid prices which everybody know they are not making money - can go and dig there own graves now - good be it!

The more established carriers, who manages to reward their pilots fairly, are struggling to keep costs down and that leads to pressure on the employees - eg deteriorating conditions of service (pay etc) -only because some crap airline management think they are so smart.
Well there you go - goodbye Sterling - now we just need Norwegian to face the same fate and thats just a matter of time too.

Again - I wish the pilots and employees all the best in the future - may you soon find greener pastures.
Y.

Crossunder

Yeager: I work for Norwegian. I agree with you!
What we are seeing now, is a constant drive to get the employees to pay out of their own pockets, so that Norway's white trash (anyone seen the TV series "Charterfeber"...?) can go to Spain for NOK 300. Unfortunately, our company is filled to the brim with people who have struggled their way through countless companies that either went belly-up, and/or had the worst possible working conditions. These pilots are now willing to sacrifice quite a lot in order to keep DY afloat. To a certain extent, I can certainly understand this. You can only take so much of having to start all over again every few years.
As for myself, I would rather see my company follow the Titanic instead of having to work for free and fund everyone else's week end trips to European capitals...
If DY cannot afford to provide their employees with roughly the same basic T&Cs as similar companies and at the same time make some money for their investors - it's the market strategy and business model (management job) that needs to be adjusted - not our T&Cs!

928

Crossunder: If this is how you feel why don't you simply hand in you resignation?

Cloud surfer

..rather than telling him to resign, how about taking the lube away from your ass and with a straight spine demand a salary that reflects your qualifications, training, radiation levels, sleep patterns, shift-work, dehydration, divorce rate, lack of job security and average death at (retirment + 3 years)?

The only other professionals I know of that sponsor their employers are called whores.

Crossunder

928; why the hell would I resign just because of what I fear might happen? I am simply saying that I have a sneaking suspicion that far too many in my company are willing to bend over and start picking up soap bars in the boss' shower. Only time will show if we all have the guts to stand our ground and stick together. I don't expect one helluva pay rise and a pot of gold. I'm hoping that the lower 20% of the pilots (on the seniority list) aren't sold down the river, and that we don't accept our T&Cs to diminish. Would you accept a pay cut to an already, at best, mediocre salary?

We are all willing to learn new things and try new approaches to how we perform our daily duties. We (almost) all follow the fuel saving guidlines provided to us by management. We work as efficiently as possible to ensure quick turnarounds. Most of us show up 15-20 min early (often more) to check flight plans, weather etc, so as to be at the gate a few minutes earlier (because our check-in time is really too short). We plan, re-plan, fly the given cost indices, re-evaluate, tanker fuel strategically, many of us help the cabin crew clean the aircraft during the too short turnarounds. We all do our best. Most, if not all new joiners pay for their own type rating. If that is not enough, then this particular company has no future!
So instead of resigning, one must fight for decent T&Cs

Guttn

I believe Mr. Crossunder has earlier stated that he has resigned for much much greener pastures

...just saw your last post there,,, well, maybe I was thinking of someone else

Crossunder

Haven't resigned....yet! Waiting for a new join date Anyway; I would not resign merely because of the present T&Cs at DY. They're not half bad, as long as they don' get any worse
It's the long term stability I'm worried about. Even SAS cannot provide the kind of stability that can KLM/AF, BA or CX, so the largest carriers are the ones to aim for!

Yeager

If the f@ucking freakin' business model doesnt work as it is - then thats life. Let the white trash stay in their holes. Why is it that some guys think that everything will be good as long at they accept lowering ther conditions of service - how has it ever, ever saved anyhing but the managements bonuses for another year?? Go piss in your pants but up there and it will not be warm for long - I promise you that. Anyways I understand u want to keep your jobs. Wish you guys the best - just dont become cheap whores.

Dovregubben

I believe the new protocol to the DY collective agreement signed yesterday will clearify the situation a lot.

With 13 workingdays less. 5 early-4 off-5 late-4 off, and a 3,9 % payrise.

Thats more than I even was dreaming about taking into account the current fuelprice situation.

Guttn

But isn`t that the same as 5-5-4-3? If you take into consideration the early starts and late starts you still end up with an effective 3 days off period, though you`ve gained an effective 5 days off (4 off). Good with a payrise, but how much did the rest of the taxpaying country average this year? Was it around 6% or so?

Dovregubben

5-5-4-3 ?

Old 5-4-5-3 = 189 working days

New 5-4-5-4 = 177 working days

Hanguren

....But those just 3,9% barely covers the inflation...! Not much when you consider that the salaries in DY already is an industry low among western european airlines....

This will not help awoiding a downgoing spiral when it comes to conditions for pilots!