Hey chaps,
Been invited for an assessment for Q400 type and line tr...looks good to me.
Whats the trick behind?
Cheers

Depends on the price ? as I guess you will be asked to pay for TR ( & "contribute" to line -training? ) if not, can't see a problem. . . enjoy :ok:

18k for type and around 5k for line.
Anyone knows whats the perspective after line tr with them?
Thanks

I had a great time at airBaltic. If you plan on moving to Riga if you get hired, you'll have a great time. However, every form of commute will wear you down really fast.

Dash is one of the better types to be on when it comes to rostering, at least compared to F50. Great crews. Probably the best type chief pilot in the world!

But the scheme with paying for type and line training would make you obsolete in six months as there are other guys knocking on the door... Do not expect to be hired in that case. So if you are to spend your hard earned cash, is the Q400 the one to bet on?

Best of luck with your career!

They have suffered a fairly massive attrition rate recently (particularly 737 RHS) so, it could at the end of your (assumedly? ) fixed period contract be a case of "last man standing" & an opportunity to continue, but of course safest to assume not.
Many of last years P2F on the 737 were invited back, some declined, as they found better paying/longer contracts.
Don't know if it is so easy to find something else on the Q400 (except in far flung lands) & obviously they will take a P2F next year instead of you.
They have been struggling a bit to crew the 737 lately, but don't know if they have enough applicants on Q400 to make "negotiation" impossible or not.
As others have said, commuting is difficult (even to Scandi-lands, although that, at least, is possible) but, Riga is a very nice place between now & October ;) & not so bad in Winter if you live close to the #22 bus-stop & a couple of good pubs :D
I enjoyed my two times there, it is a shame they see pilots as seasonal employees, instead of writing a new programme of routes for Winter.
I think this year it is giving them hassle, maybe it will help it to change.
General prognosis for the company is very unclear, it seems to fluctuate between gloom & doom, and optimism, weekly.

Thanks chaps...
Really dont know what to do...
there is a number of companies flying the Q400 in europe but all seem to be pretty depressed recently...
Gotta think about it...
Thanks!

seasonal employees? no new routes for the winter?...no future?

Let's take it into another perspective..the present CEO of Air Baltic used to be the CEO of MALEV in Hungary...which is gone now..and quite a few airlines are also stuggling..Austrian, SAS,CSA, LOT, Air Baltic....etc. The big companies in Europe (some are also struggling a little bit) are happy and releived that more and more smaller airlines are dead.

Would Lufthansa let a latvian to be their CEO? or a hungarian?:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Hello...

May I ask you what your background with BT is? Were you hold in the pool for a while? I have been told I was in a while ago, being BT not hiring for the 2011 winter. Then few more operators fell under the blows of recession and it has been very silent ever since.

Not eager to jump on the P2F grenade but if they get desperate enough to...negotiate...I might still be interested. Anyone else heard something from their HQs?

Regards

DK :ok:

fcom
 

Hello, i am looking for the airbaltic fcom,sop b737

Good for you:E

Bombardier announced today that airBaltic has signed a letter of intent to acquire 10 CS300 aircraft and take purchase rights on a further 10 CS300 jetliners. The contract will be valued at approximately $764 million US, and could increase to $1.57 billion US should the 10 purchase rights be converted to firm orders.
:rolleyes:

Wonder who is financing that ?

Bit of an about turn from their previously announced 737/A320 choice.

One can only guess they got a VERY good deal.

Hello,

Do you know if AirBaltic needs FO for 757 fleet now flying in Cambodia? I heard such rumors from one of the 757 captain, tried to contact recruitment but no any answer as always. I don't have TR so probably no any chances anyway...

I will probably be doing the 737CL TR + LT during next year.
Has anyone here done this and can tell me a bit more?

I spoke with one guy who did this during 2011 and was offered a job when his contract ended but he ended up getting hired by Norwegian instead as they sent the papers faster.

davve: Air Baltic offers line training programs nowadays?

They did in 2011 & 2012. Fortunately for them, a good proportion of the 2011 P2F guys found something else for 2012 so avoided being layed off (yet again) at the end of 2012. Of the guys they invited back in 2012 a high percentage had found something less "seasonal" so declined the offer. airB seem happy to continue like this, and, unlike some schemes , you did actually earn a salary, albeit not a good one, rather than being purely P2F. . but, that was 2011, don't know the exact deal now.

@captplaystation

I have had extensive contact with airBaltic during the last months on the subject.

They still give you a tiny salary during LT (300EUR/month) to be able to have a place to live at least.
The biggest downside as I see it is that they do not guarantee a LT spot just because you do the TR with them. You have to be assessed to be accepted to LT for quality control.

If you get employed after LT it is actually a very good deal you end up with.

I have spoken with a couple guys who have gone through their TR/LT and gotten a job.
Still I would like to hear more as you can never know enough. Anyone?

They must have really upped the ante then, as about 75% of the guys invited back this Spring went elsewhere instead (primarily Norwegian/Primera / Jet Time ,as a large % were Scandis. )

Hard to believe the deal went from fairly mediocre (living in RIX ain't that cheap) to a VERY good deal (particularly when they can find guys to pay to do it) I suspect the deal may exist, but very few ( if any )get it.

Can anything be said about this years linetrainig pilots? Their linetrainig program ends 31 oct, did anyone receive a contract offer yet?

Perspectives
 

Also, if anyone knows what are growth perspectives in Air Baltic?

Do they expect to expand next year? Anyone?