Ryanair. The best thing since sliced bread?
 

Interesting article on FR in the August issue of Business Plus Magazine (Ireland).

Some quotes;

Free Market defenders?
Pays his pilots well?
Mick O'Leary says;
Doesn't receive handouts?
Unlimited expansion and profitability?
Fuure cost savings?
So who's for the chop next? See quote 2.

[ 28 July 2001: Message edited by: CaptSensible ]

The article is at: http://www.bizplus.ie/bp_online/companies/?ns=17

Capt Sensible
Are you pissed at Ryanair or something???
or perhaps you are looking to jump ship from
EI since they are in such dire straits....
I hear that there is a ban on recruitment now
in EI.....how come????
So no hope of them hiring DEP's???
I have a few friends who are just finishing their licences in Ireland and are looking???
Perhaps FR are the way to go.....who knows? :cool:

Hi ontheairwaves, haven't heard from you in a while.

Actually the article was written in one of the main Irish Business magazines, and since it was relevant to aviation (esp. current affairs in FR) I thought that ppruners might be interested. I didn't write it myself...so don't blame me if it's less than favourable.

As to being pissed at FR? Well, any professional pilot who isn't pissed at a company that blatantly sacked the union president (and without due process) is probably missing the part of his brain where self preservation normally resides.
This is union busting, big time.

Aren't you pissed at FR?

PS. Guv, the article I quoted from is in the August issue of BizPlus magazine. The one you linked to is the July issue. August isn't on their website yet.

Actually Guv , the article you referred us to is at least a couple of years old. Nevertheless it makes for interesting reading.Apart altogether from the business content,the most fascinating reference was the one about MOL wearing second hand Nike trainers. Now why on earth would you want to a) do that, b) tell a reporter about it?.The other interesting reference was to MOL's "love to spend the rest of my life on a beach in Barbados surrounded by babes". Unlike most of us who would also fancy this scenario he has the money to do it. So what is stopping him? Maybe he cannot get a cheap flight!!

Hello everybody
I am not discussing your topics but I have to ask someone, nobody answered in wannabe forum, regarding sim/tech interview with Ryanair. I´m going this week( not alot left of it).
Brgds.

[ 31 July 2001: Message edited by: Mindthegap ]

Dear Mindthegap,

If ANY pilot wants to join Ryanair right now they are totally raving mad.

You must be desperate.

No doubt you have read the thread of the "Ryanair sacks union chief" posting here.

Read between the lines.

It is a VERY unhappy Company internally. And I don't just mean the pilots. Expect a great deal of abuse from Management.

Unless you have low hours and accept you probably won't be staying very long, don't join.

If you already have a type rating and hours, you are insane to consider this route.

Don't believe whatever you are told at interview. If they tell you you will be based in Dublin, or where ever, expect that to be changed AFTER you have signed the contract & bond. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what will happen to you. Things change daily & dramatically ever day, and expect practically every paragraph in your contract to be broken (if you get one)in time.

And if you don't like it, there is NO course of action, short of going to Court, to get it fixed.

Hence union recognition fight going on in the UK right now.

I know some of the stuff you are asking about, but I'm not saying a word, cos I'm doing you a favour.....
;)

Edited to remove an unfounded allegation.

[ 01 August 2001: Message edited by: Capt PPRuNe ]

I have a similar interest as mindthegap and would like to know a little more real detail about FR.

What I don't understand Blogg is why you work with the Ryans - if it is insane to join it must be insane to stay. IMHO most of the guys I meet around Bishops S seem to have more money and time than me and do not seem particularly unhappy. Have you been particularly screwed around or is their something the others are not saying?

All info appreciated

Don't mind people like Blogg, he's talking through his ar*e.
I know a lot of Ryanair pilots and they're far from being "unhappy."
I know one guy who retired last year after flying with them for years having moved from Lingus and he always said it was hard work, but the money was great and he made a hell of a lot of it! He never has a bad word to say about them.
All this crtisism you will always note has avery distinct "British" feel to it, if you know what I mean.

OneWorld22 - A lot has happened in that year since your man has left. I am not sure how to take your message. It has to be a wind up. If not, prepare for a lot of responses!

Bring on the responses Skyclear. It is no wind up. Ever since PPRuNe first came on-line there has been thread after thread on "the woes of Ryanair." Not a week goes by without Michael O'Leary and co. being accused of everything under the sun. The point about the recent sacking is very simple,
where you there?
do you know for sure what happened?
Because if you weren't, everything you and others are saying is heresay. Remember there are always two sides to every story.

Look how people got it so wrong about the sacking of the daughter of the Chief Pilot, they immediately jumped in with two feet, asumimg it was O'Leary when in fact it was nothing to do with him.

I would like to get the Ryanair management side of the story before making any crass comments, or jumping in accusing him without knowing any of the facts. I repeat, you are all reacting to a story you heard from third parties and if it was as bad as people are saying, why have the Ryanair pilots not done anything? why are there no rumblings?

As for my comment on the British taint, you know exactly what I'm talking about. There is still a sizeable portion of British society that will never like an Irish success story. I mean Ryanair, an airline from that small backward Island, now the second largest carrier after BA operating between the UK and Europe...I mean it's just not right is it?

Oneworld 22... why lower your self to using the 'If I dont like the arguement... sure I can always blame them for being anti-Irish racists..' plan of attack?

Just when I thought that the Irish had got over their inferiority complex... along you come. Welcome to 2001..Welcome to Europe...

How many European low cost carriers are run brits..

FR - Irish
GO - American
EZY Greek
UKA Dutch
VIR Belgian

Now do we hear similar anti greek feelings regarding stelios? NO

[ 02 August 2001: Message edited by: Copenhagen ]

Well there is always one isn't there!!

For your information, OneWorld22 I AM Irish.

This Company is TOTALLY different for the one it was, even 12 months ago, and a lot of it comes from MOL's new henchmen trying to take over the running of it to justify their existence and fat salary. Jim's Stansted Base is totally different from DOB's (bilko's). And a lot worse.

What you clearly don't understand is that sometimes it isn't so easy to move Companies. Does the expression "out of the frying pan, into the fire...." mean anything to you???

I agree with you Skyclear. I think you, OneWorld22, are a wind up.

However what's the point of even discussing your opinion, when clearly you aren't in touch with what is really going on inside the Company? My info comes DIRECTLY from the horses mouth. Those out there who read this, who are inside, KNOW it is true.

I just wish to save another poor sod's career from being stuck, like mine.

I want BALPA, because maybe we can get seniority recognised in Ryanair, and stop the rot.

Why am I still here? Easy. Because one day maybe I will get to come home, and be with my family again.

Steady on there guys....
for your information Copenhagen, I'm not Irish! I was born and raised in New York city and moved here with my parents when I was young and have stayed on here. I also served in the USMC and I don't have the traditional "Irish-American" background. so get your facts right before you start shooting from the hip. As a neutral I've looked on with dismay regarding the many petty and spiteful things said by Brits about the Irish when on my travels and the anti-Ryanair BS that takes place regulary here is proof of that. An Irish success story is something to question, it must be dodgily run, or their maintenance must be dodgy, or they're financed with dodgy money and government favours. You know what those cute Irish are like! We even had threads here criticizing Ryanair for their pilots' taxi speeds!!!!!!!!

Blogg, all I'm asking for is the facts of this matter, where you there at the time that this happened???
Did you hear the conversation between MO'L and this guy? In other words you've heard one side of the story only. To have a proper debate, we need someone to stand up and give the other side of this story, isn't that how it works in the courtroom? One party states their case and the other party responds and gives their side. All I'm asking for is a balanced debate, if you can prove to me that this happened the way you say, then I'll be the first to stand up and say O'Leary was totally wrong. (And I know you're Irish.)
But we need to get BOTH SIDES.

Oh, and by the way, why are there no rumblings from the pilots?!?!

Once again, OneWorld22, you prove your ignorance.

The Dublin pilots voted 50 to 10 in favour of industrial action including strike a little over a week ago.

Is that 'rumbling' big enough for you?

Balanced debate blogg, that's all I'm asking for....
So when is this strike going to take place???
Why are none of the other staff talking about it?

[ 02 August 2001: Message edited by: OneWorld22 ]

Sorry, I was writing my last posting, as yours was added, OneWorld22.

My posting is not all about the Union Sacking issue, it is about Ryanair as a Company to work for.

I was responding to a professional pilot (I assume) who is interested in working for Ryanair. What I am saying is, be very careful if you are thinking about joining right now. There is a LOT of really vindictive nasty stuff going on internally, and it stems from the very top, and permiates right through the Company. There will be a lot of changes in the next few months, and most of them will be painful & unpleasant for everyone who works at Ryanair.

Yes, I have seen colleagues with less experience be posted home. I am on the wrong fleet.

But they are not happy either. Why would they want to rock the boat & vote to strike if they WERE happy ????

I guess it saddens me, because I think most of the agression is so unnecessary. Ryanair's basic formula is correct. But some members of Management are squeezing TOO hard (including MOL), and it makes for a very unstable & uncomfortable environment to work in. I admit working for a profitable Company is better than working for the 'other' one, and sometimes ANY job is better than none, but everyone has choices.

If you are a pilot out there looking for work why put yourself between a rock & a hard place if you may not have to? You want a career that will take you from right to left seat, and from old to new type, don't you? You want a quality of life with your family, ideally well paid, don't you?

I don't think any pilot would, if they are being honest with themselves, want to work for a Company when CLEARLY there is industrial relations problems, and will probably not deliver the goals outlined in the paragraph above....

So, still think I am talking through my ar*e, OneWorld22?

No blogg, I don't think you're talking through your you know what. You have an opinion and it's a valid one.

My problem with this particular matter is this,
I have a different story from your one. I have it from someone very high up in FR that ths issue was simply that this guy refused the jump seat outright, that there was no 5 into 4 and he demanded aggressively that a Pax be taken off so he could sit in the cabin.

Now, once again that's what I've heard
happened. I wasn't there so therfore it's all heresay and I have no idea if it's the truth. So what is the truth? The only way of finding that out is getting both sides to present their arguments and then making an informed judgement after getting all the facts.
I've no doubt this will happen as if what you're saying is true then obviously there's a good case for an unfair dismissal hearing. But I've also heard MOL has no fear of this.
As for the working conditions and current culture of Ryanair I'd love to hear from more Ryanair pilots on all of this. let's get Compton involved for example.

Oh God not him again...reason flys out the window!

Firstly,to sgt.something the article is not old as i just got that biz plus this morning thanks to eircell.and the heading was"the best share since sliced bread".this refers to ryanairs great share price increase over the last few years.