Who said no one is flying

[Polar_stereographic]

Don't dispair,

I've just returned from a business trip to the Big Apple. Flew BA both ways, and let me tell you that the flight was full full full. So what's the story? I watched the previous flight depart NY and although I was not on it, it looked like there where plenty of folk traveling.

I find the same thing with the summer flights (as mentioned in a previous post). Every one I speak to that flies for a living tells me the same thing.

Must be a matter of time before the recruiting doors start opening again.

What do others think?

PS

[spitfire747]

Polar

Great to see and hear, I am sure it ill not be long before it all picks up again. Lets face it if the Europe - NYC route is "full full full" then things are promising for us all.

[MAX]

Unfortunately if management says 'no-one is flying' then they wont recruit pilots.

MAX <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

[Polar_stereographic]

MAX,

That's my point exactly. There is a lot of management saying all sorts of things that is not supported by the evidence that I have.

PS

[BillyFish2]

Polar,

Good to hear. That's the sort of news we could do with.

[Polar_stereographic]

BF2

I say ride the storm out. I know that there are some on this site who do not see this in that way, and I just know that this thread will take a bit of stick from them.

All I'm saying is that in my view the evidence does not support the the doom and gloom thrown around by the airlines. Me thinks that there are other reasons behind what they are saying.

btw, it's my understanding that BA are yet to lay anybody off (I'm talking about from the flight deck here).

PS

[Megaton]

PS,

Hope you're right but one flight doesn't really make for evidence.

[Polar_stereographic]

HP,

Read carefuly again, and you'll see that I'n not basing it on just one flight.

PS

btw, the airport was solid this morning too. I could not find my taxi man for all the names being held up. Had to phone him to find where he was!!

[Megaton]

I'm sorry. I'll try to be more explicit in future but one trip encompassing 2 flights and some time spent in an airport still does not make for overwhelming evidence. Also, the flights may have been full but you don't know how much revenue was generated by those flights. I still hope you're right but I still think the evidence is flimsy.

[Rowley]

Sounds good to me!!

Im still using the wait and see attitude though! <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0">

I reckon in about 1.5 - 2 years we should see something like we had in about 1997- A good recruitment market!

I await the master WWW's comments <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

[Polar_stereographic]

HP,

I'm not going to get drawn into argument over this, but I have drawn my evidence from more than one place. Among them -

Quotes:

"I find the same thing with the summer flights"

"Every one I speak to that flies for a living tells me the same thing."

Also, read some of the other replies.

I agree, I do not have the numbers to make any statistical certainty, but I am just expressing my view as I see it.

PS

[Megaton]

All right, you win.

I'm off to buy shares in UAL, AA and BA. Now where's my Enron portfolio gone.....

[MAX]

Now, Now. I like the term 'ride the storm out'. Like we have a choice. <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

[Tosh McCaber]

Whilst flights may look as busy, and could well be as busy, as they were pre-crisis, is it not a fact that, even with the previous and present volume of traffic, most of the airlines were overstaffed at that time. Sept 11 gave them the impetus to rectify the situation- drastically, so far as Wannabes are concerned!

[Canada Goose]

Not wanting to pish on anyone's chips here, but, I too have heard and personally flown on full full full flights, but the impression that I was under is that there are less flights being run on existing sched's, as well as certain less profitable routes (pre-9/11) that have been axed. I live a couple of miles out from the threshold and a couple fo degrees off the approach/departure path for rwy 07/25 here in Ottawa and I can tell you that I have noticed a drop off in traffic since 9/11. I seem to be no longer awoken at 6:30 am with the roar of a 737 climbing out over my house (with picture frames rattling on my walls <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> ).

So, my synopsis, slightly less people wanting to fly since 9/11, BUT, a lot less flights = FULL flights. Having said all that, I hope I'm wrong and PS is right .......

Happy ldgs..

CG <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

[spitfire747]

My glass is half full not half empty..

The world is full of pesimists but out-numbered by optimists like me !!!. .(If I wasn't i wouldn't be investing borrowed money on flight training.... would I )

Join me .. raise your glass and drink to the rosey future of air travel... !!

Enjoy !

[scroggs]

While this topic is of interest to Wannabes, it is not intrinsic to the process of obtaining a licence or first job, so in the interests of minimising used bandwidth, I'm transferring it to Aircrew Notices - you can carry the discussion on there.. .While I'm here, the traffic figures of BA and the like are publicly available. Currently, in the longhaul market, overall passenger figures are down between 16 and 25% down on a industry capacity reduction of around 10 to 15%. That means that, overall, there is a lower load factor on fewer flights. (Inevitably this information is a few weeks old). Also, due to the preponderance of promotional fares, the yield per passenger is well down - especially when you consider that many of the all-important business passengers hav traded down to economy. While passengers are returning, they ain't paying much!. .What this means is that many airlines (not all) are still losing money, and there is still a lot of work to do to turn it all around; witness BA's annoucement last week and the probable loss of 25% of the airline to come (16000 jobs). So don't look for an improvement in the jobs situation yet - it's probably still a year or more away.