Ezy cancel flights due to crew shortage

[126.9]

Dear Steve Moody
I do apologise for my bad spelling. I must admit, I do have great difficulty maintaining written fluency in all four of the languages that I speak. I am nonetheless embarrased to cock up in English; after all, it was the third one that I learnt!

As for my opinions regarding hardJet; I rest my case. I guess the rest of the postings on this thread say it loud and clear (at least the ones posted by real pilots do). Huh FS2002?

[Stelios]

I think that most of you righteous "loyal" comfortable people are a load of bl**dy hipocrites. If the market is good and you have more than one offer in your pocket, you choose the best. Bin Liner comes along and changes the world and you're trying to tell 126.9 that he's immature and made his choice wrongly and the rest, like he was in a position to predict the end of the world.
Just take a look at yourselves, the time may come one day when you're all dressed in puke orange and nowhere to GO!!!
Give the man a chance.

Disgusting.

[Little Friend]

Steve,

Don't listen to 121.5-your a good bloke.


But that was a crap post....see you in the crewroom..I'll be the one with bags under my eyes.

Little F

[Firestorm]

Maybe EZY should spend a little more on crewing their commercial operation rather than their easy barbrque nights....................... Discuss.

[old & Tired]

Steve Moody

As a retired training captain I’m appalled you are making personal comments, bye the way being dyslexia did not hamper my career in the RAF or Airlines.

FS2002: Grow up

[stej2]

one of the unlucky ones

Well as one one of the unlucky ones who spent the night in a hotel in Zurich last night and missed a days work today due to the late running of today's flight I think I've made my last easyJet flight. Next time it's a search through teletext and a scout around online for an airline who can actually manage to run a service. Previously I'd been a bit of an enthusiast, but last night was a joke. Jet Avaition at Zurich did their best to help, but several of the easyJet staff (with a couple of exceptions) were worse than useless. The rumour today was that the flight out of Gatwick was late because it was had to be fuelled twice, originally not having taken into account the extra passengers that had been added from the cancelled flight the night before. So having arrived home 14 hours late, I'm off to easyClaim to persuade Stelios to pay for my flight and then maybe I'll write some crew rostering/HR software to flog to him...

[Devils Advocate]

and if you think it's bad now ?!

Many moons ago, as a young school lad, I (rather naively) wanted to be a 'Deck Officer' in the British Merchant Navy where, way back then, the shipping industry was manned by seasoned and well paid professionals.

But things in that industry have moved on (certainly since the 1950's and 60's heydays), and one might say that the aviation industry seems to be paralleling the shipping industry with w.r.t its terms and conditions, i.e. nobody in their right mind would subject themselves to the terms and conditions to which the majority of the shipping (or indeed any 'mature' transportation ) industry now subject their staff to, i.e. the pay is crap - and getting worse - as indeed are the overall terms and conditions, and generally it's mostly manned by (desperate for employment) crews from third world nations.

So anybody care to guess where aviation is headed and / or care to write a 'glimpse into the future 25 years from now' ?!

[Slickster]

Interesting point, however the shipping industry is one of the least regulated in the world, hence flags of convenience, and the fact that anyone can buy a boat, and cause mayhem on the high seas, with no qualifications whatsoever. The story is a little different in aviation.

Aviation is very tightly controlled (PPL medicals for example). How many tanker captains have to undergo sim checks, route checks and medicals? No one but BA pilots can fly BA aircraft due to the nature of BA's operation, and likewise with a lot of other airlines.

I think this a good thing. Did you know that on average one merchant ship sinks every day? This goes unnoticed because they are carrying freight (not SLF!). Perhaps the shift towards air travel coincided with the slip in standards in the shipping industry, and increasing use of flags of convenience happened.

[Hand Solo]

Yes but plenty of people who are not BA pilots fly aircraft in BA colours, and if BA management had their way no BA pilots would fly BA coloured aircraft. As far as I see it there are two barriers to flagging out our entire industry:

1) aviation is far less forgiving than shipping - mistakes have catastrophic consequences quickly and attract lots of attention. Flagging out to poorly trained individuals will ultimately become bad for business.

2) Most SLF ships for western passengers have at least a western Captain whilst the crew can come from anywhere. The passengers feel more comfortable with that particular figurehead. Your average Sun reading punter will probably be less than happy if he got on an aeroplane and found the flight crew were from Kazakhstan and barely spoke English.

[javier]

Re: Land After

Aircrafts fly because pilots are paid!!!

It is not a question of loyalty, most of the pilots will move to another company if they are paid better, it´s always been as easy as it is.

if companies prefer to spend money in an unexperienced pilot instead of an experienced one that´s there problem. In cheap companies as easy-jet, ryan-air and so young pilots will leave the company as soon another position is available in a good one.

thing are changing for pilots and in the next 3 years we will see a shortage in pilots, on most of the big companies almost 35% of pilots will retire in this period...p.e: Ba will retire 1500 pilots, Iberia 600 and so....

Easy jet guys!!!! bad times for you are comming!!!!

[MOR]

I have to agree with 126.9

I did an Easy selection day last year. Passed it. One of the questions asked was:

"Would you accept an offer of a right hand seat position?"

My reply was:

"No, I would under no circumstances take a right seat position. I am currently a captain and would like to remain one".

Subsequently told I had passed the selection day, and eventually did a command sim check. This was a few days after Sept 11, and of course suddenly there were a stack of 737 type-rated folk around.

Had a call from JL who offered me a right seat position- which I sadly declined, explaining to her that I couldn't afford the pay cut. I pointed out that I was still interested in EJ, and should a DE command come up, I would accept it. She then rather bizarrely told me that I couldn't have a command as I didn't have enough factored hours- complete nonsense as my assessment was for command and by both my and their calculations, I had far more than enough factored hours.

And my point is...???

Easyjet seem to getting rather arrogant with this stuff about not considering those who have previously turned them down. I can fully understand not considering those who have failed some aspect of the assessment, but not those who have declined a job offer.

Circumstances change. People have shifting ambitions and goals. For any number of reasons, a person might decline a job but have a change of circumstances that enable them to reconsider. Declining a job offer is not a personal insult (which EJ seem to take it as), it is an inability to say yes for one reason or another. Anyone who has gone to the trouble of taking part in the selection process is obviously interested in the company.

On the other hand, a colleague of mine is fond of saying "I work for money. If you want loyalty, get a dog". Pilots are not generally a loyal bunch, they go where the best opportunities are until they settle down and their career path is dictated by other considerations, like kids and houses. Most EJ pilots would probably move if offered a better job- as in any job market, the main factors are money and quality of life.

I would have liked to have worked for EJ, and I don't think I was being unreasonable in holding out for a command- they are still looking for DE captains where I live. What attracted me was the Southwest ethos, but it seems that EJ have just picked out the bits of the Southwest model that suit them, and discarded the rest. Sadly, it doesn't work like that.

The sort of petulance that leads to this "If you turned us down, we are going to return the favour by not re-considering you" behaviour is highly unprofessional. The professional HR person will look for the right staff, and patiently wait until they are ready to work for them. That way, you get the right people, not just the ones that know how to press the right buttons. Also, I detest being handed reasons and excuses that are patently untrue.

I know I will end up getting a better (next) job than EJ, but it is a missed opprotunity- for them, as well as for me.

[Mentaleena]

easyJet seems to have the most unskilled staff I have ever come accross at check in. They are untrained and unable individuals who seem to make up rules as they go along.
The Airline programme has worked against them so well because they seem to be WANTING to show the world their failings. I think that the recruitment department are moulded from the same caliber as they seem to have employed a number of pilots I wouldn't employ in a garage!
Their downfall has already begun when they started to lose sight of the product, the size of the company and the 'manageability' of so many people. They are not geared up for huge business as they are now cancelling flights due to staff shortages, but arrogantly unwilling to recruit the right people either. What a bood* mess.

[quaerereverum]

This from today's The Times......


August 09, 2002

EasyJet 'is stretched to limit', airline boss admits
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent



EUROPE’S biggest budget airline has admitted that its pilots and cabin crew are under severe pressure because the airline does not have enough trained staff to cope with its record-breaking growth.
EasyJet plans to cancel some flights from next week to try to recover some control over its schedule.

Letters to pilots from Vilhelm Hahn-Petersen, the operations director, which have been leaked to The Times, describe how easyJet is struggling with “severe disruption”.

“It is very clear that the current situation cannot continue,” Mr Hahn-Petersen wrote on Wednesday.

“Right now it feels soul destroying and the bottom line is we can now conclude that the 60 per cent growth coupled with four new crew bases and lots of new routes has stretched us significantly.

“The combination of volume and complexity in the summer schedule has stretched us to the limit. I recognise that we need to scale back slightly to recreate stability.”

Mr Hahn-Petersen said he understood “the frustrations and concerns of all crew”.

The Luton-based airline, which bought rival Go for £374 million last week, has set itself a huge expansion target to satisfy financial markets and stop Ryanair from reclaiming the number one spot in Europe. On Wednesday, while Mr Hahn-Petersen was writing to pilots about the airline’s difficulties, easyJet directors and managers were boasting about the 62 per cent rise in passengers last month. In a letter dated July 5, Mr Hahn-Petersen wrote that he could “recognise the strain everyone has been under” and would have more staff trained by August.

But on Sunday, easyJet cancelled 19 flights because it did not have enough staff or back-up aircraft when two planes developed technical problems. Thousands of passengers were delayed by several hours and many abandoned their journeys or flew home on Monday.

The airline tried to blame air traffic control delays but it emerged that British Airways, which had five times as many flights that day, had not cancelled any flights because of air traffic control.

One easyJet pilot contacted The Times expressing his concern that the airline’s uncontrolled expansion would lead to an accident because crew were disillusioned and exhausted. “I have repeatedly told managers the situation has become dangerous but their only concern is profits,” he said.

“They have pushed staff to the limits and now we are seeing the consequences. It would be terrible if it took a crash to force them to rein back on this breakneck expansion.”

An easyJet spokesman said: “I’m alarmed if one of our pilots is saying these things. We have worked our pilots incredibly hard and made great demands on them in the past two months. We are negotiating with them over pay and they have rejected our first offer.”

He said a new roster design- ed to improve efficiency had resulted in crew being in the wrong place. Building work at Luton was also causing problems. But he denied that any of the difficulties had resulted in safety being compromised.

[N380UA]

The primary concern of an employee is to earn a living.

I’d take a job with EJ in a hart beat had I a current type rating on a 737. And still I have to agree with 126.9. After having blown more money than I had on flight training and getting up to snuff for an airline, I was looking for a flying job with the banks breathing down my neck, a very uncomfortable position to be in as most of you probably know. I did actually get an offer rather soon but the pay was so low that there was no way to sustain life. For a better paying job I would have had to spend more money i.e. “We’d take you guy, IF you can come up with a type rating”. So for me, however sadly, the case was clear – no cash, no job and no live.
My point is we spend a lot of time and money to achieve a required status on our own, without the support of the carriers. When we are entering the market, we find an industry which is not really compensating those efforts, in the contrary are making it rather unpleasant. As much as we want to fly; our obligations require us to turn a buck or two for the bankers too.
Yes, I work for money and the best offer gets my approval, which by the way is not any different than what the airlines (EZY et-al) do; the best candidate gets the job is that simple.

[expedite_climb]

Okay, I'm going to be controversial. Im not usually, and some might say its easy for me to be as I have a job.

Anyway, this is what I think. Yes it may be short-sighted of ezy to not look at you again. Yes it may be unfair, but unfortuately, life is not fair. It is ezy's "train set" and they shall play with it how they like, whether they be right or wrong !!

126.9 (and others), why does ezy 'owe' you a job just because you have hours and experience. Nothing personal, but in jobs in other industries, just because you have experience doesnt mean youll get the job, and I can see their point of view of wanting people that are committed to ezy. Yes this may be unfair on a few who were stuck between a rock and a hard place, but they made a policy and stuck to it. If it is wrong and they remain short of crews it may well change !!

***Taking cover for flames***

[khasabman]

Let's get a couple of facts straight here.

1. Who ever says that the standard of pilots within eJ is low " I wouldn't employ them in a garage" is talking from a wealth of inexperience. I have been flying since the '50s and with many many differnt airlines. Take it from me the standard of training and competence within the Company is high.

2. A company spokesman is absolutely correct when he/she says that they (the management) are in talks with the pilots over salary. Their offer wait for it..........1%. Take this with the fact that 40 managers have awarded themslves a bonus totalling £10,000,000.

Not pretty but factual.

[Buster the Bear]

OH DEAR!

easyJet cuts flights to ease expansion pressure


Thursday August 8, 10:49 PM EDT

LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Europe's biggest budget airline easyJet said on Thursday it would cut about four flights a day to take pressure off staff and avoid scheduling glitches that led to 28 cancellations in July during rapid expansion.

Word of the move came in a letter to pilots from operations director Vilhelm Hahn-Petersen which said the company's 62 percent passenger growth in July had caused "severe disruption" which could not continue, easyJet said.

"This is not a big scaleback...it's in terms of writing to all your staff, saying thanks, it's been difficult, what are we going to do," an easyJet spokesman said.

As of next week, the Luton-based airline said it planned to cancel four or so flights on routes with low loads. EasyJet operates about 250 flights a day.



The move comes after July cancellations affected around 3,600 of the 1.08 million passengers the airline carried that month.

Budget carriers use fast turnarounds between an aircraft's arrival and departure to cut costs and undercut traditional carriers on short routes.

The speed of their turnaround can make them vulnerable to cancellations when technical or staffing problems occur.

EasyJet blamed July cancellations on problematic British air traffic control, unserviceable aircraft, a new roster for aircrews and problems due to work on Luton airport.

"Occasionally people get things wrong, we had a bad July," the spokesman said.

EasyJet's record-breaking expansion comes as it competes with Ryanair (RYA) to maintain its top spot in Europe.

The pressure put on pilots to meet schedules and achieve rapid growth recently brought claims from one unnamed British air traffic controller that safety could be put at risk.

Industry analysts say budget airlines have an excellent safety record but admit there is a fine balance between a quick, cheap, rapidly expanding service and safety.

On Friday The Times newspaper quoted one easyJet pilot who said the airline's expansion would lead to an accident because crews were disillusioned and exhausted.

"I'd refute absolutely any allegation that we're growing too fast and putting growth and therefore profits before safety." the easyJet spokesman said. "It's been a very difficult month for them, and we accept that some of our crews might be slightly disillusioned."

The spokesman said the "subtext" to the pilot's complaint might be current pay negotiations. Pilots have rejected the first offer put to them by the company.


©2002 Reuters Limited.

[tailscrape]

Steve Moody:

Get a grip. Your airline is an absolute catastrophe to work for as a pilot by all accounts. Your "middle management" are staggeringly average in my opinion having met them.

Progressive? Let's see how you progress thru this current PR disaster. Absolute fiasco.You don't have enough crew yet you treat people like sh?t! Good plan Ray and Joyce .

FS 2002: I don't agree with you at all. 126.9 has a point, he has accepted he has probably burnt his bridges, so stop shooting the guy.

eJ are having some serious problems and I bet they revisit their arrogant "we won't look again type attitude" in the future.

Quite frankly if eJ are the best, why do people leave and why are all their pilot's moaning?

Steve, answers please!

[Eff Oh]

Tailscrape
Tell us exactly how do you know that easyJet are so bad?? Have you ever worked there?? Also from what it looks like it doesnt sound any better or worse than our present company. If there is anything that I have learned in my short aviation career it is that all airlines have the same problems, just different uniforms. I have friends at easyJet, based north of the border who actually........wait for it.......enjoy it! But perhaps anything outside of Luton or Gatwick doesn't count?? You need to take a long hard look at your own company Tailscrape and remember how you have been treated in the past year! Take off those slime green glasses, and replace them with nice new Thomas Cook ones.
The future's bright. The future's Orange. (Oh wait that was different company.)

[giza]

EasyJet rota "rubbish"

teletext today states more flights to be canx this weekend due changes in new rota. Spokeman states that new rota is "rubbish", and is being changed. Can anyone tell me why it is rubbish, and if so how it was not spotted until after introduction.