gondwalla

Jetblues. Why are u VB guys allowing o/s 777 drivers to jump your seniority list and grab 777 commands?

MTOW

No surprises there when you look at VOz's top men.
Possible, but very doubtful. (Airlines co-operating with each other on something other than price fixing?) If true, they're giving themselves three days in the Sandpit to pick the eyes out of the however many applicants they have from that part of the world. Three days would suggest quite a few have thrown their throbe and gutras into the ring.

What will be really interesting will be how many of the applicants from the 'not too many' EK 777 drivers chosen will be willing to walk away from the EK free housing, education allowance etc to return to a high tax environment on a not too startling salary. Big ask for someone with three kids at school - unless you just want out of Dubai at any cost.

What will be even more interesting to see is if a dozen or more 777 pilots leaving, many (if not most) of them C & T captains, will do anything to change EK management's insistance that basings or remote rosters are not an option.

gondwalla

MTOW...mate the other consideration is the US economy. I dont think V Oz will be too successful. There have been many airlines fail on the Pacific route.

No Idea Either

Gondwalla

Dont really have a say in it. We dont have an "official" seniority system and the rules for the introduction were outlined only as a MOU in the EBA. Its probably not even really enforceable, so I've been told. AND we, as a group, signed up for it when the crap EBA was voted up. We are already paying the price.

jetblues

Gondwalla your posts suggests we had a choice. If only that was true. Have a quick peak at the world airline crewing over the past 5-10 yrs. Qantas has spawned Jetstar, QF has contractors flying B747400F with QF callsigns out of SY and ML. VB has PB flying into the Pacific. So in Australasia this is not a new concept. You must accept that the VAustralia operation is a multi-billion dollar gamble with no guarantee of success. Do we all see it succeeding, yes but the stakes are high. So as far as the operation, including crewing is concerned it needed to be set up independently for the financial security of the VB Domestic operation.

Do we think that the vast majority of the seats in VAustralia will be filled with current VB pilots, the optimist says yes, the pessimist says no and the truth is that nobody knows. Time will tell.

anthonyjohnson

I have sat back and viewed this site for a while now not carrying to post just shaking my head but this all takes the cake I need to comment.;

AUSSIE AIRLINE PILOTS ARE OVERPAID LASY BUGGERS, ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS $$$

I HAVE NEVER MET ONE THAT WITHIN FIVE MINS DIDNT TELL ME HE WAS A PILOT (FIGJAM)

GET OVER YOURSELVES YOUR ARE PAID TOO MUCH FOR DOING A JOB THAT USED TO TAKE SKILL NOW THE COMPUTERS DO EVERYTHING.

BRING ON THE FULL AUTOPILOT DAYS WHERE EVERYTHING IS AUTOMATIC FLAPS, T/R THE LOT

WE ALL KNOW LESS PEOPLE WILL DIE BY RITCH FAT PILOTS WHO TAKE THERE JOB FOR GRANTED

END

Launch_code_Harry

Aircraft, is that you?
Don't forget the ignore button in your user control panel.

Lefthanded_Rock_Thrower

AJ,

Might be worth learning how to spell.

ga_trojan

Yeah those computers were working real well in BKK for Qantas and for BA in LHR now weren't they? Not to mention the Air Transat flight that did a glide approach on the RAT into some strip in the Atlantic.

Going Boeing

I understand where you are coming from but it is always important to take a long term view. With the number of aircraft that have been ordered by Oz based airlines, the demand for pilots in Oz for the next 10 years is going to be huge. The profession as a whole (and your husbands long term career) will be significantly better if the pilot fraternity bonds together for consistent and equal terms and conditions. The "race to the bottom" that has been happening for the last 8 years or so has to stop and the only way to do it is for pilots to say NO. The jobs will still be there so the employers will have to offer better conditions. It may be an unpleasant thought for you to stay a few months longer in the Sandpit or Fragant Harbour but the few months pain will be rewarded by better conditions for many years to come. Overseas based pilots are very welcome back in Oz but please do not accept substandard conditions. GB

Much Ado

Instant and permanent

74world

G'day,

Just wondering if anyone has any info on the procedure for the interviews in V Australia?

Last week I've received a phone call.....so when could I expect a call for an interview?

Apparently V Australia will be interviewing worldwide, so that's good news for a lot of guys I presume

Cheers

cunninglinguist

Is it just me or is there some irony in the fact his initials where AJ

Sounds just like him, begosh and begora

Wiley

Going Boeing, if you think that any individual will do anything other than what suits their own individual best interests, you're in cloud cuckoo land. Refuse a job "for the good of the industry"? Do that and risk being trampled in the rush of others falling over themselves to take it.

I think you'll find some of us still around who thought we were doing something along those lines back in that year we dare not mention here.... and what happened then?

VOz's money men will try to tread that very fine line of making the package just attractive enough to attract just enough qualified starters without spending a dollar more than is necessary.

Someone came out with the (I think fanciful) suggestion that VOz has entered into some under the counter deal with Emirates not to take "too many" of their 777 pilots. Judging by the way Emirates management are currently going out of their way to piss their pilots off with utterly silly rostering, one could be forgiven for thinking they actually WANT as many of their pilots to apply for VOz as possible. (Get rid of all the Ozmates? Hmmm, I know there'd be more than a few in EK, particularly of one particular nationality, who'd welcome that, no matter how big the hole it might blow in their own collective foot.) I know of some people who as little as four weeks ago weren't interested in VOz, but have now applied, thanks only to the crazy rostering that has been recently introduced at EK.

Going Boeing

Hi Wiley, I know that I won't convince everyone but if enough come on board then there will be a difference. I am not encouraging guys to hold off accepting a job "for the good of the industry" - I'm asking them to do it for their own long term career. There are enough jobs on offer in Oz that the overseas based pilots don't have to fall over each other in the rush.

I totally agree.

galdian

GB
If the V Oz team have any connection/input with the VB management then a foregone conclusion! - last VB EBA over the line by just 3%.

As I've said before credit where due - the VB management judged the carrot pretty damned well.

On a different note - am I hallucinating or did I recently read that VB have FIRM orders for 3 aircraft and OPTIONS on another 7 which they will finally decide on EARLY NEXT YEAR??

So after payoffs to mates, connections, promises etc people are getting a sweat up over (maybe) a couple of external 777 commands in Oz??

Seems a bit odd IMHO.

737opsguy

This must be for 737s. There are a fair few Embraers coming in this year for VB and VOz has 7 orders for 777-300ERs with 6 options (either 3 this year or 2 and one in Jan 09).

Word on the street is that almost all of the operational side of VOz is being fully segregated from the main VB business to ensure that if it fails, the VB operation is protected. There are appartently some areas of the business like Finance, IT, People (cough) that are being shared across both companies.

My understanding is that the EBA Deed says that for the first 7 VOz aircraft, 4 7ths of the Command slots are to be offered to VB Captains. So if you assume say 6 crew per aircraft, that's a total of 42 Command slots (for all the aircraft ordered so far - 18 Command slots for start of operations) of which 24 are offered to VB Captains.

How many current VB Captains are rated on the 777? One captain I spoke to the other day said there was only 2 in VB. So if you look at the start-up of VOz, surely they aren't going to be putting newly rated, non-type experienced Captains on the new aircraft for start-up. They'll bring in an experienced group of Captains for the start (further required since the top two in the company have never flown the 777 even in a Sim) and the VB Captains will get access to their slots "later" down the track once the first 3 aircraft are up and running.

Could be a little bit of a wait for the VB Captains to get a gurnsey yet me thinks...

loveflying737

And who are you blaming for the SA pilots applying to Jetstar / VB / REX / Skippers / Skywest etc. or for that matter to Emirates / Cathay / BA

If there are SA pilots applying to VA (and there are very few who meet the requirements so there certainly wont be "a lot") they would be good guys, residents of Australia and suitably qualified. Are they supposed to be rejected just because they are recent immigrants.

If VA is to employ 42 Captains for the first aircraft (as has been suggested) and three (perhaps) of them are Australian Permanent Residents with Australian ATPs and heaps of wide body / long range experience who unfortunately happen to have recently immigrated to Australia is this such a big deal / wrong????

MonsterC01

Quote:

If VA is to employ 42 Captains for the first aircraft (as has been suggested) and three (perhaps) of them are Australian Permanent Residents with Australian ATPs and heaps of wide body / long range experience who unfortunately happen to have recently immigrated to Australia is this such a big deal / wrong????

Response:

YES!!!!

Gnadenburg

I thought we were cutting back on African immigration?

Social problems, riots etc.

And what? Now they will be flying our aircraft?