Any one hazard a guess
 

When the like of Ryanair will be removing the requirement to have a 737 TR and 300 hours on type before applying?

Just wondering

S

I asked that just recently on the irish avaition board, and a ryan air pilot replied "as soon as market picks up", as far as I was concerned I thought Ryanair were recruiting and expanding regarless of market, I guess what he meant was, as soon as market picks up there will be less and less 737 type rated pilots out there and they have no choice but to drop the limit. Personally I reckon it will be 03/04, they hired a few low time lads last autumn, I am not sure about this year but fingers crossed next autumn maybe be better if not probably autumn 2004???

Interesting.

I guess that it's really a question as to when things will pick up. There must be a limit to the number of European 737 +300 hours on type guys/gals out there, as Easy are also in the market for them.

Given the expansion plans of both of these carriers, I wonder how many pilots are there out there that meet the requirement, or are they hoping to pick people up from higher up the food chain, ie discontented BMI/BA's for example.

S

Apparently there is a bit of a flood of Aussie ex-Ansett 737 pilots who dusted down their dual-nationality British Passport / British Ancestry Visa and are in the process of jumping through the JAR conversion hoops. Should keep EZ and FR's appetite for experienced 737 pilots sated for a while.

cheers!
foggy.

Foggy - you'll probably find that a lot of those ex-ansett 737 guys actually left the UK in '89 to pursue "contracts" downunder.

Grivation,

scuse moa ignorance, but are you talking Brits who went down south to work? I was under the impression that's a no no from a work permit perspective, but happy to be corrected.

S

Not for a period in '89 it wasn't Splat.

If you want to know more there is any amount of info on the Dunnunda forums at the moment.

Come on guys, please leave 1989 out of this. Yes, the Brits that went "south" have probably already come back. Yes, there are many Aussies over here right now converting their Aussie lic to a JAR one. Fortunately, Virgin Blue did take many potential "Brits" as they need 737 pilots too.

You can either get depressed about it or you can look at it like this. At least when the boom comes (and it will - just when?) there will be quite a few guys with enough time to get command leaving places for FO's. So, airline growth will not be hindered by a lack of experienced pilots. (This did happen)

If you aren't familiar with the Australian pilot's dispute that happened in 1989 then Dununda is the place to find the info. Be warned it is STILL a very emotive (and explosive) issue. There are many lessons to be learned from that dispute.