Computers must have been reduced in price in Shannon, alot of new members to pprune!!! ;)

Looking forward to the party on 3rd.

Point is, you can speculate, wonder, rumour-monger, theorize, meditate, consider, ponder, reflect, ruminate, surmise, think, weigh up, gamble, wager or whatever the hell else you want to do but it's not sold until Martin writes to us telling us it is sold.

Then we'll have something to really party about as we celebrate flying into the sunset (or sunrise if Aeroflot come on board - see, more rumour!)

Plus, all the above keeps this thread on the front page and saves me having to look for it.

Looking forward to your letter Martin

Good luck now!

Sorry, while I'm at it - I do hope, as Seymore advises above, that when things do work out that at least some of the UK guys would be offered the opportunity to take up jobs out of Shannon as we could have a very cozy little forum to while away the hours (when not working of course) in the lovely wesht of Ireland.

This of couse goes completely against the grain in that it took us 800 years to get rid of yiz in the first place but the VEI brits are cool - more Irish than the Irish themselves. Love you all guys and girls!!

God - I'm bored!

Spoke with SNN last yesterday there is yet another fri afternoon deadline.

They hope to have something to tell us by Monday..... That's the next Monday coming..

Jeez! Upfront - you were up late last night!

It seems that yet another group of investors were in snn yesyerday. No news yet but it seems that they all went for a drink in thee exec bar at the airport afterwards. I dont think was aoreflot.

Not rumor just fact, make of it what you will.

Hey MM, you must be really bored.
Been in verac Latley????????????

Metal Mickey, Early to bed early to rise!

Let me back to BRU all is forgiven.......

Although the recent developments are interesting enough....Does anyone know just exactly how many staff are left at VEI???

As far as I know three Captains and one First Officer have left or in the process of leaving.Two Captains and the First Officer were SNN based the other Captain was LGW based.
Anyone know is Max still in business,I miss those steaks!!!!!!! http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif

With Easy offering £30,000 joining bonus for Captains, why would anyone stay ????

Mutt

Just heard tomorrow is the big day or should I say another big day with another big announcement.
I can`t wait. :rolleyes:

[This message has been edited by Paddy went to Brussels (edited 15 February 2001).]

Well ive cleaned the car, done the garden, recondotioned me liver, posted too many notes here. must be about time to go back to work soon.

HELLO......!!!!its friday again and its another big day,anyone in SNN got anything to tell us.
OK I`ll have to wait until next friday.

Some visitors next week I think.

Will there be anyone left in april?
If so who do i contact for an application for the new outfit?
Many thanks
LE http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/cool.gif

The latest I have heard around SNN was that there is to be a joint announcment on Monday by VEX and VEI along the lines that VEX have lost the SABENA code share to Cross Air causing the closure of VEX. VEI have managed to find further investment and would continue in some form out of SNN with the Virgin Express name for the next year with the possibility of retaining the name permanently.
I don't know how true this is but we'll see on Monday! Then again how many times have we heard that before!!!!!!!!!!!

The idea of VEX being replaced by Crossair on the Sabena codeshare is interesting. I do wonder about a non EU company doing routes which are EU internal and do not start of finish Switzerland.

It does raise the question again of non EU Companies/Pilots working in the EU without reciprication. Personally I dislike this.

Its Monday.....Any news or is it still a bleak horizon??

If TCC is still OPS Dir you bet it's bleak !

Now what is happening?

2 closed door meetings in BRU in 2 days suggests an announcement of a sort is imminent.....

JR called last night to say he was phoning round the Guys, he said a deal was on (signed either last night or today). I'm afraid no more details.

At least we hear it first, rather than in the media. Maybe a sign of a new era?

respect

The Kid.

Up Up and away.

Yep, It seems that the deal is done and the money is in the bank.

The word is that the route structure and the plans will be released over the next few days.

Its nice to get good news now and then.

And hopefully some flying, sooner rather than later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you think the chances are that "Cocky" will be able to get off his @rse and provide us all with contracts this time???

Sounds like good news at last!
As raised before, does anybody know what will happen about the Ops, Crewing and cabin staff that were made redundant last month?

Well they're talking of 4 aircraft initially rising to 6 later in the year. Unless there is still going to be a mass exodus they have enough pilots.
There are very few cabin crew left in LGW so they are going to need most if not all the girls from SNN back pretty sharpish I would suggest.
VEX are going to need the BRU crews.

With regard to crewing and OPS staff they have been running enough staff for two aircraft, double that initially, then add another two later in the year and you should have your answers as to how many are likely to be needed back.

Good news for VEI .I was wondering why I heard the "Green Isle" callsign being used over the last few days .

Hope the future is bright.Anyone know where the money is coming from ?

Slan,

TC

Hey Geoff,

Any chance you could get the senior management to make some sort of announcement to the "Orifice Staff" that the deal's been done. They're human too. It's just that me Judy's been on me back a bit.....

Now stop smokin' an' get back to werk.

Hey TC don't worry bout dat Green Isle ting yo hear - it's just stoopid pilots an stoopid controllers forgettin wot they supposed to say!!

The latest is that the new top brass were in the smoke today meeting the IAA.

So lets hope that we receive some concrete plans in the near future.

An announcment recinding the protective notice would be nice. Otherwise the rumour mill will keep churning.

Smoke??? Are we having a barbecue?

Gidday Lads,

Been following this thread from way down here feeling sorry/disgusted/dissapointed/horrified/angry/etc. for you all. What a great place it was to work, with all you good people. I should have left a bomb in BRU as I left. I have allways thought that the Virgin "brand" worked best in Ireland but it's hard to perform with your hand tied behind your back eh!

I'll keep watching these pages for news of me old mates. Hope it works out for the best for you all.... good luck. Any reply's I send will probably be 12 or so hours out of sync. due to the time difference. Perhaps even 12 hrs and a few days as the rostering down here does it's best to keep me from my computer.

Keep you chin's up lads... I'm keeping mine (plural) up for you !!!

I heard a deal has been done and that it is American Airlines, though they'd have to get some EU nationals to front it due to ownership laws.

Clive,

Good to hear you're alive and kicking.

All holding our respective breaths to see the outcome.

Don't know when or if I'll ever get down to Oz but keep the heating on in the spare room - you promised - remember!!


Keep watching this space - it's not over till the fat lady sings.

Best regards,

Metal

Looks like good news for VEI guys then.

Anything known yet about new brand,aircraft,route structure and launch dates.

Yiz have all gone very quiet.

Just bringing the thread onto page 1 again and wondering on further developments.

Well looking at the latest news, I think that Ryanair in Brussels South will probably be the death-blow for VEX operation. There is blood in the water and the sharks are coming!!

Hopefully our new American masters will lead us out of the low-fares market into something with a long-term future.

This just in !!!!!!.......

A FORMER Virgin Express Ireland pilot has accused the airline of using inexperienced crew to land flights at the same "tricky" airport where a US air force jet crashed, killing Secretary of State Ron Brown.

Pilot Nicholas McHugh, from Terenure, who yesterday began his claim for compensation against the company under the Unfair Dismissals Act, claimed "newly trained" crew are landing aircraft "almost on a daily basis" at what he called "nasty" airports across Europe.

Among these are Dubrovnik airport, Croatia where the air force jet piloted by "some of the most experienced crew in the world" crashed, killing all aboard.

Virgin breached Portugese Aviation Authority regulations by landing at "tricky" Funchal airport, Madeira with a crew that had not yet completed full training, Mr McHugh claimed on the first day of an expected two-day hearing at an employment appeals tribunal in Limerick into allegations of constructive dismissal.

He claims his position with the airline became untenable and as a result he was forced to resign on August 3 last after almost two years with the firm.

However, a pilot still in employment with the company subpoenaed by Mr McHugh said he is happy with the safety standards applied by the airline.

Complainant, who began employment on a contract basis with Virgin Express Ireland out of Shannon in November 1998, told the hearing "things went very badly wrong very quickly".

Mr McHugh, who at one stage was flight safety officer with the company but later resigned the post, said it seemed to be a case of commercial considerations overriding everything else.

While he was with the firm around 70pc of pilots hadn't been trained in safety and emergency procedures and absence of a confidential complaints mechanism meant incidents were happening and were not addressed because employees would not report them.

In the Portuguese breach he was aboard the flight. "Its a very tricky airport with absolutely no room to manoeuvre," said complainant. "You fly up the side of a hill and fly back down and land on an extremely short runway. It requires a high level of skill and compliance. We were in breach."

This was denied by the flight captain, Pearse McCrann, who said he phoned his superiors and was assured the regulations were adhered to. He backed their decision. The flight was safe, with no danger.


Scary stuff !!

gyro,

Interested to know where you got this information. Was it published somewhere?

Also what's happenning with the 'supposed' new company, we were all called 1 1/2 weeks ago and were informed that we had been bought and that a public announcement was to be made the following day. I've not heard a thing.

Has the deal fallen through?
It appears the management 'with a proven track record' are keeping true to form

Hi Ellion,,

The pilot story appeared in this mornings edition of the Irish Independent..

As for the new company details its anybodys guess. I suspect the truth of the matter will be a lot different from the rumours.