Bad news from Gandalf Airlines
 

Today, 30-07-01, was sent 8 letters (4 cpt and 4 pil) that will be fired in the next days. By the way the chief pilot, the chief of instruction/simulator, and the DOV Cpt Lilla, will be fired maibe.

[ 30 July 2001: Message edited by: onlybyplane ]

Gandalf is truly falling to pieces and has a few weeks to go. At least the guys fired yesterday will be getting their money.

A copilot left yesterday morning for Barcelona for a 4 day trip and was called in his hotel room at 16.50 informing him he had been fired and that he had to pack his bags, rush to the airport to catch the 18.20 flight to Bergamo. The interesting thing is that the week before the company had sent him to the sim to do 8 hrs training for his LPC/OPC and Cat II training that he completed successfully. Gandalf Airlines so called restructuring plan doesn't seem very clever!
A Captain who lives abroad arrived in Italy yesterday afternoon after being home for the weekend. After switching his mobile phone on got a call from Personnel informing him he was fired. It would of been better to have not had him fly all the way to Italy...

Captain Lilla, together with other 5 senior Captains will be fired shortly because they can go into retirement. I wouldn't be too concerned though because when Gandalf folds who is still in will not get their last salary.

Eureka, the maintenance company is about to close because Gandalf have not paid the maintenance for 5 months!

It's sad to see this airline dissappear off the map as it was a pleasant environment.

....and this is the challenging and rampant airline that went also into the Stock Exchange with a very big advertisement campaign?....but please....
The real big problem with 90% of italian airlines is with their managements...am I too conservative with this figure?...
I doubt that those people would be even able to run profitably an outlet at the fruits and vegetables market around the corner.
"O pesce puzza da' capa", they say in Naples (=fish stinks from his head) cannot be more true!
Investors, before filling up such positions, should, at least, look at the history of those individuals and less to their "MBAs"....there are so many cases of people being appointed to those seats who have a professional story of disasters with other airlines (very likely with their pockets very full). Still they get into it.....this is really unbelievable... so, except them (managers)everybody loses: investors, employees and customers.

Obviously flying the Do328TP and the Do328Jet would provide excellent operating experience for any pilots - the flight decks alone (mega-EFIS) are far more advanced than 95% of all other aircraft types.

That being said, where are former Gandalf pilots headed? Which airlines are picking up these experienced pilots? Any examples? Where are they going?

Good luck Gandalf pilots!

Cheers

Where are Gandalf pilots heading?

Most are trying to get onto something bigger like the A320 or B737 Next Generation. The problem is it usually takes about 3 months to find another job.

Any ideas about who could hire these guys?

O.W.K.
I would say they are heading to AirEurope as they need pilots now. :eek:

A few Gandalf Pilots have been offered jobs in China on a two year contract on the Do328 jet.

IAC, the crew leasing agency will have to pay these guys a lot of money if he wants them to go out there.

Aireurope is now Volare Airlines and the pay is very low and the bond very high.

Air Europe is still there,so is Volare Airlines and both are in Volare Group.Things might change soon,depends on which grouping will absorb The Qualiflyer (SWR led)Group.
Simple,in'it?

just testing

So who is now in charge at Gandalf ??

Yu owed as well, Tim?

Nope, just interested to see who I should talk to there (we have some suggestions from previous project that could save them a lot of money)

[ 01 August 2001: Message edited by: TimS ]

Captain Roberto Lilla, the Manager Flight Ops will be going in the next few weeks. Rumour says that Captain Mario Dongellini will be taking his place.
Dongellini is the union leader and I'm sure ANPAC would be happy to have him in the drivers seat. However, Dongellini's career record is interesting: Flown for Viasa, Continental, Eastern, Air Dolomiti, Lauda Air and Gandalf. He has a degree in Aviation management and flown all types of aircraft. the only problem with him is that he has a very volatile personality and has no idea what diplomacy is. In any case it really doesn't matter because the airline will fold very soon.

Gandalf Airlines from the very beggining was set up as a financial operation and as an airline. The investors, together with the 3 young men that wrote the project have all made a profit. Gandalf is the only airline in the world to have gone public within 6 months of starting. Southwest Airlines, Ryan Air and easyjet all waited at least 5 years and until they were profitable before doing so. The owners are now lots of small investors that are running around showing off the fact they own part of an airline. You know the butcher from Bergamo who was talked into investing $10,000 of his life savings in an airline...

Thanks for info OWK - very helpful.

How about general/commercial management rather than flight ops.

Reply to my email if you prefer ...
[email protected]

Tyrolean Airways has just signed a new contract with its pilots. Thus they will need about 15% more crew to scedule according to the new rules. As they will lose crews from their DH8 fleet to their jet fleets the demand on DH8 should be quite considerable. DO-328 crews might fit well into their turboprop fleet.

National Jet Italia went public after 1 year of operation on the London Stock exchange....and it's not run by italians.

National Jets Italia is run very well and I hear that the people working for them are happy.

I reckon Italian people are capable of running an airline but they have to have the humility to learn from more experienced people. The ideal situation would be for Italians to work together with a team of foreign managers.

Going back to Gandalf, after talks with the unions yesterday they may be a chance of Air France saving the airline by taking it over. my question is would that be a wise move? After all Alitalia and Air France have just signed a commercial agreement and I don't think they need Do 328 Jets in their fleet combined with debts and problems. I am sure that Italians and French can get together and cook a good meal, can they revive a dying airline without help from another source?

Obi,
National Jet Italia is run very well?Ask those who actually work there since you seem to know them....
Ask them about their contracts....
Ask them how legal they are and what will the tax man do when they get caught.....

Hey Obi Wan Kirk you have been fired already from Gandalf, and you know what??? everybody was very happy about that!!! :D so pleaseeee stop bashing Gandalf and Italian aviation!!!
You tried to join Easyjet too but you never passed the simulator....
Now that you have been fired maybe Gandalf has more chances to survive.

and about you "tarjet fixated" wash your mouth before talking about Italians and Italian aviation.
Italians are the best and wherever you are from remember that our grandfathers were crossing Atlantic Ocean by planes when your grandfather was grazing sheep... : eek: