Virgin Blue hiring
as at 5 Feb...
14 F50 pilots in excess, down from 55.
20 on hold file, no "off the street" recruitment start dates until Sep/Oct. Then it will probably be ATR FOs, depending which entry positions (NZ 737 FO/777 SO/ATR FO) are the least in demand from existing pilots.
Significant movement coming from the 737 fleet, 25 commands, 40 FO jobs, and that's before anything gets finalised with regards to EJets.
14 F50 pilots in excess, down from 55.
20 on hold file, no "off the street" recruitment start dates until Sep/Oct. Then it will probably be ATR FOs, depending which entry positions (NZ 737 FO/777 SO/ATR FO) are the least in demand from existing pilots.
Significant movement coming from the 737 fleet, 25 commands, 40 FO jobs, and that's before anything gets finalised with regards to EJets.
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So with the potential to use A330/777 with the HNA tie up to fly to China will there be any new airframes and subsequent internal movement?
Are they still in the surplus with F50 pilots?
Are they still in the surplus with F50 pilots?
These idiots don't have the slightest clue what they're doing.
I got an email a few days ago asking if I was still interested in a position either NZ 737 or local 777 as an external recruit on the current hold file.
ha!
I got an email a few days ago asking if I was still interested in a position either NZ 737 or local 777 as an external recruit on the current hold file.
ha!
For those who are interested. 4 FO's on 737 checked to line. 4 currently line training. 4 in ground school and 5 to start in August. All based in NZ. All from VARA. Majority Aussies. With many Kiwis in VAINZ jumping ship to ANZ. There will be further requirements this year. Hope that helps!
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Goat
All those positions wont be filled by ATR/VARA
E190 to be filled by 777 SO's
737 East Coast filled by E190 transfers, SO's and potentially VANZ
VANZ and 777 SO's then filled by VARA
Beetle
All those positions wont be filled by ATR/VARA
E190 to be filled by 777 SO's
737 East Coast filled by E190 transfers, SO's and potentially VANZ
VANZ and 777 SO's then filled by VARA
Beetle
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toluene-diisocyanate -' Everyone has a career path'
Yes you would think so, but not really for ex VARA. Why do you think they have had on average 1 resignation per week for the past 3 months or so. I wouldn't call a SO job paying peanuts, for 5 years, a career path. Maybe if you're straight out of GA...
Yes you would think so, but not really for ex VARA. Why do you think they have had on average 1 resignation per week for the past 3 months or so. I wouldn't call a SO job paying peanuts, for 5 years, a career path. Maybe if you're straight out of GA...
If you had gone through the tripe I had mate I suspect your tune may be a little different. There are ways to treat people, and ways not to.
I've got nothing but respect for the people operating the aircraft but I don't apologize for holding a certain degree of contempt for a HR department that has behaved as though we were an unwelcome inconvenience, especially considering the costs all of us incurred to be properly prepared for the process.
The embarrassment of being instructed to call your referees for the last stage of the process so they would be ready for Virgins call, only to then hear nothing ever again, nor an explanation as to why was unnecessary and unprofessional.
I've got nothing but respect for the people operating the aircraft but I don't apologize for holding a certain degree of contempt for a HR department that has behaved as though we were an unwelcome inconvenience, especially considering the costs all of us incurred to be properly prepared for the process.
The embarrassment of being instructed to call your referees for the last stage of the process so they would be ready for Virgins call, only to then hear nothing ever again, nor an explanation as to why was unnecessary and unprofessional.
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WillieTheWimp
The resignations have had an impact and will continue to do so. ATR was over crewed especially in light of recent developments ie. Alliance taking over the Emerald run, and the proposed withdrawal of 4-6 airframes, leaving a fleet of only 8 or so.
Ex ATR crew working up here, sensed exactly what was going on and walked. An uncertain future and lack of career progression is common to all.
Of course you can wait your time for an Ejet or 737 role, although to give you an example, a current ATR Captain is looking at 1-3 years from today (not to mention the 4-5 years they have already been on the ATR), a current FO more than this, and a new join, even more... so I guess the only real opportunities at the moment are on the 777 as a SO, or the 737 in NZ. This brings me to my next point.
As it appears there is very low interest in the SO and NZ roles from current crew, which means that any recruitment external will be for these positions and possibly ATR. So if you were to join say end of 2016, you will have every current 777 SO, ATR and VARA pilot, and shortly Tigerair pilot senior to you on the seniority list. How long do you think it will be before moving on from expert map folder? Yes indeed food for thought and time for the pension
The resignations have had an impact and will continue to do so. ATR was over crewed especially in light of recent developments ie. Alliance taking over the Emerald run, and the proposed withdrawal of 4-6 airframes, leaving a fleet of only 8 or so.
Ex ATR crew working up here, sensed exactly what was going on and walked. An uncertain future and lack of career progression is common to all.
Of course you can wait your time for an Ejet or 737 role, although to give you an example, a current ATR Captain is looking at 1-3 years from today (not to mention the 4-5 years they have already been on the ATR), a current FO more than this, and a new join, even more... so I guess the only real opportunities at the moment are on the 777 as a SO, or the 737 in NZ. This brings me to my next point.
As it appears there is very low interest in the SO and NZ roles from current crew, which means that any recruitment external will be for these positions and possibly ATR. So if you were to join say end of 2016, you will have every current 777 SO, ATR and VARA pilot, and shortly Tigerair pilot senior to you on the seniority list. How long do you think it will be before moving on from expert map folder? Yes indeed food for thought and time for the pension
Yes, VA is a "career" airline these days, assuming it keeps going which given the free spending ways of certain individuals isn't necessarily a given.
There were quite a few years where people joined and found themselves in command of a 737 in under 6-12 months. Unheard of in Australia previously and you would have to say unusual in the rest of the world (for non contract roles).
All the stuff with the Chinese could very well kick off a flurry of new wide body routes, and given that there are only 11 existing wide bodies in the group at the moment there could be a few more airframes in the future, with that brings opportunity.
If you are flogging around in a GA type, a dash or even to a lesser extent a 717 you would, I would suggest, have to have a serious think about whether the inconvenience of the early stages of the job in Virgin outweighs the later stages.
If you were offered QF and VA at the same time, I would probably go with QF but you are faced with the same issues - SO for a considerable time, then uncertainty as to where the progression lies given JQ etc. but if nothing else you get half decent staff travel and "appear" to be valued at least a little bit by the senior management.
VA - gives you a number of different pathways. Let's face it FO on the 737 in NZ isn't exactly flying rubber dog **** out of Hong Kong. NZ is a beautiful country, the flying across the pacific islands is good challenging flying and if you have kids bring them up in nz is not a bad option, flattened vowels notwithstanding
Flogging around to LA or AUH in the back seat of a trippler, granted not as mentally stimulating as it could be but it is what you make of it, no reason why you couldn't fill your time doing some tertiary education by remote learning, if nothing else do some shopping in LA!
The SO's seem to transition into the right hand seat of the domestic jets reasonably fast, certainly faster than QF as best I can tell, so that may be a consideration.
Would I give up a decent dash8 or 717/146 gig for this - I would certainly give it some serious thought!
Cobham for all their good points, are hostage to their contracts, that is just the nature of the beast. You could do an absolutely awesome job with them and the political winds blow differently at QF or wherever and they lose the contract (look at santos as an example). Through absolutely no fault of your own you could find yourself looking for something else - the other flick of the coin says they keep their contracts and you could stay there happy as larry until you retire - you just don't know.
Eastern/sunnies/skippers etc - probably worth serious consideration. As the Rex guys have found out the lower paid but more relaxed regional lifestyle can change when some bean counter decides to squeeze a few more drops from the regional lemon, and you are doing a heap of overnights with little or no allowances, effectively away nearly as much as the mainline pilots for half the pay.
You just don't know, but don't dismiss future opportunities because the initial bits are not ideal.
There were quite a few years where people joined and found themselves in command of a 737 in under 6-12 months. Unheard of in Australia previously and you would have to say unusual in the rest of the world (for non contract roles).
All the stuff with the Chinese could very well kick off a flurry of new wide body routes, and given that there are only 11 existing wide bodies in the group at the moment there could be a few more airframes in the future, with that brings opportunity.
If you are flogging around in a GA type, a dash or even to a lesser extent a 717 you would, I would suggest, have to have a serious think about whether the inconvenience of the early stages of the job in Virgin outweighs the later stages.
If you were offered QF and VA at the same time, I would probably go with QF but you are faced with the same issues - SO for a considerable time, then uncertainty as to where the progression lies given JQ etc. but if nothing else you get half decent staff travel and "appear" to be valued at least a little bit by the senior management.
VA - gives you a number of different pathways. Let's face it FO on the 737 in NZ isn't exactly flying rubber dog **** out of Hong Kong. NZ is a beautiful country, the flying across the pacific islands is good challenging flying and if you have kids bring them up in nz is not a bad option, flattened vowels notwithstanding
Flogging around to LA or AUH in the back seat of a trippler, granted not as mentally stimulating as it could be but it is what you make of it, no reason why you couldn't fill your time doing some tertiary education by remote learning, if nothing else do some shopping in LA!
The SO's seem to transition into the right hand seat of the domestic jets reasonably fast, certainly faster than QF as best I can tell, so that may be a consideration.
Would I give up a decent dash8 or 717/146 gig for this - I would certainly give it some serious thought!
Cobham for all their good points, are hostage to their contracts, that is just the nature of the beast. You could do an absolutely awesome job with them and the political winds blow differently at QF or wherever and they lose the contract (look at santos as an example). Through absolutely no fault of your own you could find yourself looking for something else - the other flick of the coin says they keep their contracts and you could stay there happy as larry until you retire - you just don't know.
Eastern/sunnies/skippers etc - probably worth serious consideration. As the Rex guys have found out the lower paid but more relaxed regional lifestyle can change when some bean counter decides to squeeze a few more drops from the regional lemon, and you are doing a heap of overnights with little or no allowances, effectively away nearly as much as the mainline pilots for half the pay.
You just don't know, but don't dismiss future opportunities because the initial bits are not ideal.