Astraeus Expansion - Current Conditions and Thoughts...
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Astraeus Expansion - Current Conditions and Thoughts...
Probably a good question for Capt. Pprune and Hamrah (and the recruits profiled a few months back),
I understand that Astraeus is set to expand in the next few years with either 737-700s or A319s (per the Flight International article). I have also reviewed past postings related to Astraeus and they have been helpful but now a bit dated... Perhaps Astraeus people could answer some of the questions below:
1. Have many Astraeus pilots left for Easyjet or Ryanair - what about the trainees?
2. How would you describe the "feeling" among Astraeus pilots now that the airline is established and set to expand? Pretty optimistic and happy?
3. How many hours can a new FO expect per month?
4. Are there any nightstops (any examples) or are most of the flights out and back? How many sectors per day on average?
5. As far as variety of flying, what is the furthest afield you have flown - any specific exotic locations you like? What is the best and worst route experienced in your opinion?
6. Lastly - what about hiring projections? I know about the self-sponsorship type program (I have seen the ads). How many will likely be added in the next year or so?
Thanks for the input. I have been very impressed with the growth of this airline. I would love to see an aviation video (either ITVV or Worldairrtoues) made using Astraeus and its 700s and 300s - perhaps Hamrah could entertain us again - I really enjoyed his GO video - excellent.
Cheers
I understand that Astraeus is set to expand in the next few years with either 737-700s or A319s (per the Flight International article). I have also reviewed past postings related to Astraeus and they have been helpful but now a bit dated... Perhaps Astraeus people could answer some of the questions below:
1. Have many Astraeus pilots left for Easyjet or Ryanair - what about the trainees?
2. How would you describe the "feeling" among Astraeus pilots now that the airline is established and set to expand? Pretty optimistic and happy?
3. How many hours can a new FO expect per month?
4. Are there any nightstops (any examples) or are most of the flights out and back? How many sectors per day on average?
5. As far as variety of flying, what is the furthest afield you have flown - any specific exotic locations you like? What is the best and worst route experienced in your opinion?
6. Lastly - what about hiring projections? I know about the self-sponsorship type program (I have seen the ads). How many will likely be added in the next year or so?
Thanks for the input. I have been very impressed with the growth of this airline. I would love to see an aviation video (either ITVV or Worldairrtoues) made using Astraeus and its 700s and 300s - perhaps Hamrah could entertain us again - I really enjoyed his GO video - excellent.
Cheers
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Can't wait to hear some impressions and opinions. Looks like a great airline to work for - must be if Capt. Pprune left a 767 for a job there...
Cheers
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Well, the Astraeus online application form looks exactly like the EZ application form. 
I am also interested in any answers to Lavdumperer´s questions above from the crews presently working for Astraeus.
Anyone?
I am also interested in any answers to Lavdumperer´s questions above from the crews presently working for Astraeus.
Anyone?
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Taking each in turn:
1. Have many Astraeus pilots left for Easyjet or Ryanair - what about the trainees?
A). Whilst we have had people who’ve left EasyJet to join us, to my knowledge no full-time pilots have left to go the other way. That said, we do employ some contract pilots ( to smooth the peaks & troughs of seasonal demand ) and these people might well indeed flit between airlines.
W.r.t the trainees, I assume you mean the people who have self-funded a B737 type-rating ? If so, I do know that some have gone to Easyjet, some to other airlines, and a few have since been offered employment with Astraeus.
2. How would you describe the "feeling" among Astraeus pilots now that the airline is established and set to expand? Pretty optimistic and happy?
A). The company recently conducted a staff attitude survey and ( albeit with a token number of dissenters and neigh sayers – which you’ll always get in any business ) I think it's true to say that the pilots came out as the happiest and most upbeat of the whole work force – and that the majority of the workforce were also happy and upbeat too.
3. How many hours can a new FO expect per month ?
A). Albeit not quite what you’ve asked for, i.e ‘by month’ - but you can go do the math, wherein I’d say that in general we’re twice as busy in the summer as in the winter - I've just queried our Operations system for a cross section of our pilots and it shows that, during the last twelve months, our full-time FO's on average achieved approximately 600 flight hours ( with the maximum figure that I’ve seen being 723 hours ), however the captains work slightly more hours than this, e.g. their average was 710 and the highest was 842.
4. Are there any nightstops (any examples) or are most of the flights out and back? How many sectors per day on average?
A). Yes there are occasional night ( and day ) stops, which might include anywhere from Aberdeen / Cambridge / Innsbruck / Keflavik / Leeds / Malabo / Malaga / Rome / St. Petersburg / Tel Aviv / Uralsk..... etc., where some of the stops can be anything from minimum rest through to several days.
That said, the majority of flights are indeed out and back in the same day ( or night ) and are typically two sectors, although we do partake in various 3 and four sector days, e.g. in our work for Iceland Express, as well as various double-drops around the Greek Islands, and / or for refuelling.
Aside - Some of these ‘outs & backs’ can be very long days indeed – e.g. the sector from Gatwick to Aswan typically takes about five and half hours. Once in Aswan you do a rapido turnaround ( in under one hour, hopefully ), which is then followed by the return trip back to Gatwick, usually slogging into headwinds, which typically takes another six hours – now just where’d I put my Chalfonts cream ?!
5. As far as variety of flying, what is the furthest afield you have flown - any specific exotic locations you like? What is the best and worst route experienced in your opinion?
A). Astraeus currently operate the worlds longest non-stop B737 scheduled service – on behalf of JetAir - from Gatwick to Malabo ( Equatorial Guinea ).
Each sector typically takes just over 7 hours ( and at its longest it’s taken over 8 hours ) to cover a sector distance of 3313 miles ( 2878 Nm ) ; It’s got very long legs has a B737-700.
W.r.t. is it exotic ? Well, any trip to Africa is always ‘interesting’, as indeed can be any of our destinations.
Along with this we also, twice a week, fly to the rather exotic Uralsk ( in Kazakhstan ), as well as some quite interesting places in North Africa ( e.g. in Egypt we operate in to Taba, Hurgharda, Aswan, Sharm El Sheik – and in Algeria we’re in and out of Hassi Massaoud ) …. wherein the views of the Sahara are just awesome !
Needless to say we fly to all points in between, as well as up into the Artic Circle, and when I last checked the number of different airports we’ve operated to totalled 137 – which is non to shabby considering that’s only just over eighteen months since the very first Astraeus flight took place.
W.r.t. best and worst ? The simple answer is, all of them and none of them respectively, as each is different and has it’s own challenges and appeals.
6. Lastly - what about hiring projections? I know about the self-sponsorship type program (I have seen the ads). How many will likely be added in the next year or so?
A). I believe we might be getting more aircraft, e.g. maybe just one, or perhaps two, for next summer - it very much depends on market demand - there's a lot of variables involved.
As you might have read in the trade press, there is indeed a potential aircraft fleet change looming, probably a couple of years hence, e.g. maybe switching to Airbus ( but it’s a big ‘maybe’ ).
Of course the figure you really want to know is the crew to aircraft ratio – wherein ours must be about 6 ( uhm, or is it 7 ? ) crews to every aircraft– and so each additional aircraft hull would require us to find 6 captains, 6 FO’s, 6 senior cabin crew, and 18 main cabin crew - so not a particularly vast expansion in recruitment when viewed with the number of people looking for their first jet job.
That said, please remember that the present preference is for B737 Type Rated pilots, albeit that, sometime in the future, I believe our Operations Director ( John Mahon, aka on pprune as 'hamrah' ) is considering offering another PPRuNe cadet scheme – but quite when this might come to fruition is yet to be determined – so keep on monitoring PPRuNe.
Robert Vesco – I’ll admit that the recruitment web page does indeed look very similar to the eJ one, just indeed as the FlyJet equivalent look uncannily similar to ours ( even down to the naming of the fields behind the form – a truly remarkable coincidence no doubt
)…. but perhaps it’s more a case that, as is oft’ said, ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’.
kuwaitlocal - err, what point are you trying to make ?
1. Have many Astraeus pilots left for Easyjet or Ryanair - what about the trainees?
A). Whilst we have had people who’ve left EasyJet to join us, to my knowledge no full-time pilots have left to go the other way. That said, we do employ some contract pilots ( to smooth the peaks & troughs of seasonal demand ) and these people might well indeed flit between airlines.
W.r.t the trainees, I assume you mean the people who have self-funded a B737 type-rating ? If so, I do know that some have gone to Easyjet, some to other airlines, and a few have since been offered employment with Astraeus.
2. How would you describe the "feeling" among Astraeus pilots now that the airline is established and set to expand? Pretty optimistic and happy?
A). The company recently conducted a staff attitude survey and ( albeit with a token number of dissenters and neigh sayers – which you’ll always get in any business ) I think it's true to say that the pilots came out as the happiest and most upbeat of the whole work force – and that the majority of the workforce were also happy and upbeat too.
3. How many hours can a new FO expect per month ?
A). Albeit not quite what you’ve asked for, i.e ‘by month’ - but you can go do the math, wherein I’d say that in general we’re twice as busy in the summer as in the winter - I've just queried our Operations system for a cross section of our pilots and it shows that, during the last twelve months, our full-time FO's on average achieved approximately 600 flight hours ( with the maximum figure that I’ve seen being 723 hours ), however the captains work slightly more hours than this, e.g. their average was 710 and the highest was 842.
4. Are there any nightstops (any examples) or are most of the flights out and back? How many sectors per day on average?
A). Yes there are occasional night ( and day ) stops, which might include anywhere from Aberdeen / Cambridge / Innsbruck / Keflavik / Leeds / Malabo / Malaga / Rome / St. Petersburg / Tel Aviv / Uralsk..... etc., where some of the stops can be anything from minimum rest through to several days.
That said, the majority of flights are indeed out and back in the same day ( or night ) and are typically two sectors, although we do partake in various 3 and four sector days, e.g. in our work for Iceland Express, as well as various double-drops around the Greek Islands, and / or for refuelling.
Aside - Some of these ‘outs & backs’ can be very long days indeed – e.g. the sector from Gatwick to Aswan typically takes about five and half hours. Once in Aswan you do a rapido turnaround ( in under one hour, hopefully ), which is then followed by the return trip back to Gatwick, usually slogging into headwinds, which typically takes another six hours – now just where’d I put my Chalfonts cream ?!
5. As far as variety of flying, what is the furthest afield you have flown - any specific exotic locations you like? What is the best and worst route experienced in your opinion?
A). Astraeus currently operate the worlds longest non-stop B737 scheduled service – on behalf of JetAir - from Gatwick to Malabo ( Equatorial Guinea ).
Each sector typically takes just over 7 hours ( and at its longest it’s taken over 8 hours ) to cover a sector distance of 3313 miles ( 2878 Nm ) ; It’s got very long legs has a B737-700.
W.r.t. is it exotic ? Well, any trip to Africa is always ‘interesting’, as indeed can be any of our destinations.
Along with this we also, twice a week, fly to the rather exotic Uralsk ( in Kazakhstan ), as well as some quite interesting places in North Africa ( e.g. in Egypt we operate in to Taba, Hurgharda, Aswan, Sharm El Sheik – and in Algeria we’re in and out of Hassi Massaoud ) …. wherein the views of the Sahara are just awesome !
Needless to say we fly to all points in between, as well as up into the Artic Circle, and when I last checked the number of different airports we’ve operated to totalled 137 – which is non to shabby considering that’s only just over eighteen months since the very first Astraeus flight took place.
W.r.t. best and worst ? The simple answer is, all of them and none of them respectively, as each is different and has it’s own challenges and appeals.
6. Lastly - what about hiring projections? I know about the self-sponsorship type program (I have seen the ads). How many will likely be added in the next year or so?
A). I believe we might be getting more aircraft, e.g. maybe just one, or perhaps two, for next summer - it very much depends on market demand - there's a lot of variables involved.
As you might have read in the trade press, there is indeed a potential aircraft fleet change looming, probably a couple of years hence, e.g. maybe switching to Airbus ( but it’s a big ‘maybe’ ).
Of course the figure you really want to know is the crew to aircraft ratio – wherein ours must be about 6 ( uhm, or is it 7 ? ) crews to every aircraft– and so each additional aircraft hull would require us to find 6 captains, 6 FO’s, 6 senior cabin crew, and 18 main cabin crew - so not a particularly vast expansion in recruitment when viewed with the number of people looking for their first jet job.
That said, please remember that the present preference is for B737 Type Rated pilots, albeit that, sometime in the future, I believe our Operations Director ( John Mahon, aka on pprune as 'hamrah' ) is considering offering another PPRuNe cadet scheme – but quite when this might come to fruition is yet to be determined – so keep on monitoring PPRuNe.
Robert Vesco – I’ll admit that the recruitment web page does indeed look very similar to the eJ one, just indeed as the FlyJet equivalent look uncannily similar to ours ( even down to the naming of the fields behind the form – a truly remarkable coincidence no doubt
)…. but perhaps it’s more a case that, as is oft’ said, ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’. kuwaitlocal - err, what point are you trying to make ?
Last edited by CrashDive; 21st Sep 2003 at 20:50.
all the information i wanted to know in one go 
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Crashdive,
Thank you for the very thorough response. You don't see many responses like that anymore - I appreciate it.
So, if I had a 737 type rating and the choice (if I had a choice...) of going to Astraeus or Ryan/Easyjet, what pros and cons should I consider about Astraeus. Sure, I understand that the charter lifestyle is different in terms of schedule and variety. Are there any other points to consider (I am sure ex-Easy pilots at Astraeus could answer that)?
Also, what could a newhire FO (with Type) expect for salary at Astraeus first year? Lastly, have you flown the long flight to Malabo - your ar$e must hurt after awhile on the 7 hour flight right? Is that a popular flight?
Thanks
Thank you for the very thorough response. You don't see many responses like that anymore - I appreciate it.
So, if I had a 737 type rating and the choice (if I had a choice...) of going to Astraeus or Ryan/Easyjet, what pros and cons should I consider about Astraeus. Sure, I understand that the charter lifestyle is different in terms of schedule and variety. Are there any other points to consider (I am sure ex-Easy pilots at Astraeus could answer that)?
Also, what could a newhire FO (with Type) expect for salary at Astraeus first year? Lastly, have you flown the long flight to Malabo - your ar$e must hurt after awhile on the 7 hour flight right? Is that a popular flight?
Thanks
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It's likely that if employed by the likes of RyanAir or eJ you'll probably ( read, 'almost certainly' ) annually fly more hours & sectors than you would in the same period of employment with a charter operator - i.e. looking to actually achieve the 900 hour annual flying hours limit - and as a FO with a 'low cost' airline you will probably earn more money too ( if only because you work more hours and that their starting pay is higher ) albeit that some of the very senior blokes in charter airlines are also 'doing very nicely, thankyou'.
Then, as a result of year-on-year flying more hours, you'll probably be in the frame for a command a lot sooner than your contemparies at a charter airline ( subject to all the usual provisos w.r.t. being capable & suitable enough ).
Lifestyle wise, working for a scheduled service carrier should provide you with a fairly stable roster. The difference being that the machinations of the charter market tend to result in a lot more commercial changes and ergo roster changes -
Aside - From my time at GoFly the low-cost sectors were typically, on average, 1:48 long, whereas with Astraeus the average sector length is 3:08 - that said, I can remember being pretty whacked after a week of back-to-back sectors when I worked for GoFly ( whereas at Astraeus it's a lot more gentlemanly, usually ).
Working as a pilot for a charter airline is likely to expose you to more, dare I say it ( and tin hat on ), 'challenging' airports than the typical 10,000' of concrete with an ILS on each end that the scheduled service blokes get to go to ( and before my scheduled-service bretheren attempt to take me up on that, please remember that I've also done 'scheduled-service', and yes, it too can often be very 'challenging' ).
I have yet to do a Malabo trip ( but I've had all the jabs for it, e.g. yellow fever, etc ) and will do one ( or maybe quite a few ) just as soon as I can relinguish some of my more pressing office duties - I'm quite a fan of Africa.
W.r.t. salary might I ask you to have a look at the The Professional Pilot's Job Network as trying to compare who'se getting paid what is akin to trying to compare apples and oranges - there's a lot of smoke'n'mirrors involved, with airlines often trying to make it appear more than it really is.
That said, I'm not sure precisely what ( if any ) salary differentials apply at Astraeus w.r.t. people who are low on experience but who arrive in the door fully type-rated, e.g. I know that the PPRuNe cadets were initially on a reduced salary ( about £27k if memory serves me right ) - as a function of the opportunity which was provided to them - but, and I might be wrong about this ( I'll ask hamrah to confirm ), I believe that one year on they are now on the standard FO salary of about £36,660 + plus duty pay ( somewhat variable at about, say, £2500 pa ) and thus a total of about,say, £39k ('ish) - but some get more for training responsibilities, etc..
Hope this helps.
Ps. If you want my advice, join a low-cost airline first, get loads of handling ( due shorter sectors ) and hours ( as they'll work you really hard ) and stay long enough to maybe get a command, and then have a think about joining a charter airline to broaden your horizons still further.
Then, as a result of year-on-year flying more hours, you'll probably be in the frame for a command a lot sooner than your contemparies at a charter airline ( subject to all the usual provisos w.r.t. being capable & suitable enough ).
Lifestyle wise, working for a scheduled service carrier should provide you with a fairly stable roster. The difference being that the machinations of the charter market tend to result in a lot more commercial changes and ergo roster changes -
Aside - From my time at GoFly the low-cost sectors were typically, on average, 1:48 long, whereas with Astraeus the average sector length is 3:08 - that said, I can remember being pretty whacked after a week of back-to-back sectors when I worked for GoFly ( whereas at Astraeus it's a lot more gentlemanly, usually ).
Working as a pilot for a charter airline is likely to expose you to more, dare I say it ( and tin hat on ), 'challenging' airports than the typical 10,000' of concrete with an ILS on each end that the scheduled service blokes get to go to ( and before my scheduled-service bretheren attempt to take me up on that, please remember that I've also done 'scheduled-service', and yes, it too can often be very 'challenging' ).
I have yet to do a Malabo trip ( but I've had all the jabs for it, e.g. yellow fever, etc ) and will do one ( or maybe quite a few ) just as soon as I can relinguish some of my more pressing office duties - I'm quite a fan of Africa.
W.r.t. salary might I ask you to have a look at the The Professional Pilot's Job Network as trying to compare who'se getting paid what is akin to trying to compare apples and oranges - there's a lot of smoke'n'mirrors involved, with airlines often trying to make it appear more than it really is.
That said, I'm not sure precisely what ( if any ) salary differentials apply at Astraeus w.r.t. people who are low on experience but who arrive in the door fully type-rated, e.g. I know that the PPRuNe cadets were initially on a reduced salary ( about £27k if memory serves me right ) - as a function of the opportunity which was provided to them - but, and I might be wrong about this ( I'll ask hamrah to confirm ), I believe that one year on they are now on the standard FO salary of about £36,660 + plus duty pay ( somewhat variable at about, say, £2500 pa ) and thus a total of about,say, £39k ('ish) - but some get more for training responsibilities, etc..
Hope this helps.
Ps. If you want my advice, join a low-cost airline first, get loads of handling ( due shorter sectors ) and hours ( as they'll work you really hard ) and stay long enough to maybe get a command, and then have a think about joining a charter airline to broaden your horizons still further.
Last edited by CrashDive; 22nd Sep 2003 at 14:40.
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Lavdumper
Your otherwise excellent comments on the also excellent Astraeus are marred by the incorrect claim that they are the operator of the longest B737 service in the world.
That esteem lies with PrivatAir who operate MUC EWR (4000nm + ) - every day - on a B737 700IGW. This fleet also has by far the highest B737 utilisation in the world at 15 hrs per day.
They also holdthe highest utilisation A319 fleet in the world, at almost 16 hrs per day.
Crashy here - and sorry for the ‘in-line’ edit - what I actually wrote above was 'the worlds longest non-stop B737 'scheduled' service'.
This is achieved with a bog-standard B737-700 ( and not one that is IGW ) and wherein if one wants a ticket to Malabo then please contact Jet Air ( albeit that these are very much limited to bonafide employees of the 'energy supply' industry ). That said, I fully acknowledge that certain B737-700-IGW & B737-BJ operators can well exceed the distance that this particular Astraeus service achieves.
Your otherwise excellent comments on the also excellent Astraeus are marred by the incorrect claim that they are the operator of the longest B737 service in the world.
That esteem lies with PrivatAir who operate MUC EWR (4000nm + ) - every day - on a B737 700IGW. This fleet also has by far the highest B737 utilisation in the world at 15 hrs per day.
They also holdthe highest utilisation A319 fleet in the world, at almost 16 hrs per day.
Crashy here - and sorry for the ‘in-line’ edit - what I actually wrote above was 'the worlds longest non-stop B737 'scheduled' service'.
This is achieved with a bog-standard B737-700 ( and not one that is IGW ) and wherein if one wants a ticket to Malabo then please contact Jet Air ( albeit that these are very much limited to bonafide employees of the 'energy supply' industry ). That said, I fully acknowledge that certain B737-700-IGW & B737-BJ operators can well exceed the distance that this particular Astraeus service achieves.
Last edited by CrashDive; 25th Sep 2003 at 08:13.
