Open Skies lifestyle
Join Date: Feb 2000
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Seems they are recruiting both Captains and First Officers again as part of their planned expansion.
https://www.flyopenskies.com/os/careers
However, If you click on the "download Terms and Conditions" item, you get an error message
Guess there aren't any! 
Seriously, anyone have any info on how they are doing ? Any crews care to shed any light on the recruitment process, way of life etc. ??
Thanks
https://www.flyopenskies.com/os/careers
However, If you click on the "download Terms and Conditions" item, you get an error message
Guess there aren't any! Seriously, anyone have any info on how they are doing ? Any crews care to shed any light on the recruitment process, way of life etc. ??
Thanks
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Costa del Yorkshire by the sea
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Here's some of the T&C:
SCHEDULE A
PILOT REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS – 1 Apr 08
This Schedule sets out the current benefits policy applicable for pilots. The terms of the policy are subject to the terms and conditions of pilots’ contracts of employment, including any applicable rights of the company to vary or withdraw elements of the benefits package from time to time. In the event of any inconsistency between the contract of employment and this Schedule A, the contract of employment shall prevail.
Basic Salary
Position Cat A Cat B Cat C
Captain £73,500 £66,150 N/A
Senior First Officer £44,100 £36,750 £31,500
First Officer (frozen ATPL) £37,800 £30,450 £25,200
Position Cat A Cat B Cat C
Captain €104,370 €93,933 N/A
Senior First Officer €62,622 €52,185 €44,730
First Officer (frozen ATPL) €53,676 €43,239 €35,784
Cat A – a direct entry pilot with recent experience on an OpenSkies aircraft type.
Cat B – a direct entry pilot who has joined on the OpenSkies type training scheme. The salary reflects the deduction made by OpenSkies to repay the pilot’s type training loan.
Cat C – a cadet entry pilot who has joined on the OpenSkies Pilot Sponsored programme. The salary reflects the deduction made by OpenSkies to repay the pilot’s ab-initio training loan.
Direct Entry Captains will not be eligible for the OpenSkies type training scheme and any type training required will be provided by OpenSkies. Direct Entry Captains who are not type rated on an OpenSkies aircraft type will receive 50% of their basic salary for the first 2 months of employment (or until completion of their Final Line Check if sooner) and 100% thereafter
Sector Pay for other Duties
Airport Standby: Airport Standby (ASBY) payments
- One intra-European sector will be paid per Airport Standby Duty
- If a pilot is called out to fly, the sector pay will revert to payment of the flying sectors earned.
Examiner/Instructor:
- One Transatlantic sector payment will be made whenever the examining/instructing duty exceeds 4 hours.
Allowances & hotel accommodation
An overnight (per-diem) allowance of $100 US/75 Euros/ 53 GBP is paid for each night the company provides hotel accommodation. This allowance is paid to provide for food and other living costs whilst on duty away from their Gateway Airport.1
Gateway Basing
Pilots will be required to live within 2 hrs travelling time of the Gateway airport or, if they live further afield, to be prepared to position to their Gateway airport such that they are able to start a duty tour fully rested. Any travelling and accommodation costs in positioning to the Gateway airport will be at the pilot’s expense. The Gateway airport may be changed no more than once a year within an agreed ‘cluster’ of airports. There are currently three clusters; Cluster A comprises of BRU, ORY, CDG, AMS, Cluster B comprises of FRA, MUC, MXP, GVA, ZRH Cluster C comprises of MAD, BCN It may be that you will be required to operate from or to any of the Company’s current or future Operating bases. This is referred to a non-Gateway report and in this case, pilots are required to self-position and the Company will pay you a return positioning allowance of; Intra - Europe £70/100 Euros LHR/LGW, SOU, Wokingham to Europe £105/150 Euros
The intent of the allowance is to cover the costs of ‘firm’ surface transport. There is an allocation of duties hours to reflect the time spent positioning (‘Company time’), which will count towards your 2000 annual duty hours. For Non-Gateway reports, the Company will also provide hotel accommodation with an associated per diem payment for the night prior to your duty block.1 The Company reserves the option to position pilots to Non-Gateway reports at Company expense in which case the positioning allowance will not be paid.
PILOT BENEFITS
Annual leave
The pilot’s contractual entitlement is for 132 days off per year. The entitlement consists of 104 days off and 28 annual leave days (the annual leave days are awarded via an online system).
In practice, the discharge of days off will provide all pilots with a maximum of 35 days leave to be taken during the calendar year. In addition, pilots may also elect to take an additional 3 GDOs (Guaranteed days off) throughout the year.
Flexible Benefit Package
All pilots will be granted a flexible benefit package of 15% of basic salary from the company to use as part of the flexible benefit scheme. After the deduction of any statutory social contributions required by applicable EU law, this entitlement will available to the individual pilot to obtain the following benefits to suit their individual needs;
Pension;
Life Insurance;
Critical Illness Insurance;
Permanent Health Insurance;
Private Medical Insurance; and
Loss of Licence Insurance
Which of these you choose, and the level of cover, is entirely up to you and can be changed as your circumstances change subject to the rules of the scheme.
Aircrew Medicals
Flight crew will be reimbursed for the actual cost of one class one medical certificate renewal per year, based on CAA/JAA requirements and recommended charges.
Staff Travel
As a subsidiary of British Airways plc, pilots will benefit from the staff travel policy on British Airways in accordance with the terms of the staff travel policy. Details of this policy are in the Employee Handbook.
Sick pay
Provided you comply with all applicable rules, you will receive salary continuation for any period of absence due to illness or injury for a period and at a rate defined by the Company. Full details of the sickness policy are in the Employee Handbook.
Standby Duty
When called from standby, a crew member is required to use his best endeavours to report as soon as possible, however no crew member will take more than 120 minutes from call out to crew room report.
It is the pilot's responsibility to ensure that he remains contactable and within network coverage during periods of standby.
Retirement Age
The normal retirement age is 65.
HFS
SCHEDULE A
PILOT REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS – 1 Apr 08
This Schedule sets out the current benefits policy applicable for pilots. The terms of the policy are subject to the terms and conditions of pilots’ contracts of employment, including any applicable rights of the company to vary or withdraw elements of the benefits package from time to time. In the event of any inconsistency between the contract of employment and this Schedule A, the contract of employment shall prevail.
Basic Salary
Position Cat A Cat B Cat C
Captain £73,500 £66,150 N/A
Senior First Officer £44,100 £36,750 £31,500
First Officer (frozen ATPL) £37,800 £30,450 £25,200
Position Cat A Cat B Cat C
Captain €104,370 €93,933 N/A
Senior First Officer €62,622 €52,185 €44,730
First Officer (frozen ATPL) €53,676 €43,239 €35,784
Cat A – a direct entry pilot with recent experience on an OpenSkies aircraft type.
Cat B – a direct entry pilot who has joined on the OpenSkies type training scheme. The salary reflects the deduction made by OpenSkies to repay the pilot’s type training loan.
Cat C – a cadet entry pilot who has joined on the OpenSkies Pilot Sponsored programme. The salary reflects the deduction made by OpenSkies to repay the pilot’s ab-initio training loan.
Direct Entry Captains will not be eligible for the OpenSkies type training scheme and any type training required will be provided by OpenSkies. Direct Entry Captains who are not type rated on an OpenSkies aircraft type will receive 50% of their basic salary for the first 2 months of employment (or until completion of their Final Line Check if sooner) and 100% thereafter
Sector Pay for other Duties
Airport Standby: Airport Standby (ASBY) payments
- One intra-European sector will be paid per Airport Standby Duty
- If a pilot is called out to fly, the sector pay will revert to payment of the flying sectors earned.
Examiner/Instructor:
- One Transatlantic sector payment will be made whenever the examining/instructing duty exceeds 4 hours.
Allowances & hotel accommodation
An overnight (per-diem) allowance of $100 US/75 Euros/ 53 GBP is paid for each night the company provides hotel accommodation. This allowance is paid to provide for food and other living costs whilst on duty away from their Gateway Airport.1
Gateway Basing
Pilots will be required to live within 2 hrs travelling time of the Gateway airport or, if they live further afield, to be prepared to position to their Gateway airport such that they are able to start a duty tour fully rested. Any travelling and accommodation costs in positioning to the Gateway airport will be at the pilot’s expense. The Gateway airport may be changed no more than once a year within an agreed ‘cluster’ of airports. There are currently three clusters; Cluster A comprises of BRU, ORY, CDG, AMS, Cluster B comprises of FRA, MUC, MXP, GVA, ZRH Cluster C comprises of MAD, BCN It may be that you will be required to operate from or to any of the Company’s current or future Operating bases. This is referred to a non-Gateway report and in this case, pilots are required to self-position and the Company will pay you a return positioning allowance of; Intra - Europe £70/100 Euros LHR/LGW, SOU, Wokingham to Europe £105/150 Euros
The intent of the allowance is to cover the costs of ‘firm’ surface transport. There is an allocation of duties hours to reflect the time spent positioning (‘Company time’), which will count towards your 2000 annual duty hours. For Non-Gateway reports, the Company will also provide hotel accommodation with an associated per diem payment for the night prior to your duty block.1 The Company reserves the option to position pilots to Non-Gateway reports at Company expense in which case the positioning allowance will not be paid.
PILOT BENEFITS
Annual leave
The pilot’s contractual entitlement is for 132 days off per year. The entitlement consists of 104 days off and 28 annual leave days (the annual leave days are awarded via an online system).
In practice, the discharge of days off will provide all pilots with a maximum of 35 days leave to be taken during the calendar year. In addition, pilots may also elect to take an additional 3 GDOs (Guaranteed days off) throughout the year.
Flexible Benefit Package
All pilots will be granted a flexible benefit package of 15% of basic salary from the company to use as part of the flexible benefit scheme. After the deduction of any statutory social contributions required by applicable EU law, this entitlement will available to the individual pilot to obtain the following benefits to suit their individual needs;
Pension;
Life Insurance;
Critical Illness Insurance;
Permanent Health Insurance;
Private Medical Insurance; and
Loss of Licence Insurance
Which of these you choose, and the level of cover, is entirely up to you and can be changed as your circumstances change subject to the rules of the scheme.
Aircrew Medicals
Flight crew will be reimbursed for the actual cost of one class one medical certificate renewal per year, based on CAA/JAA requirements and recommended charges.
Staff Travel
As a subsidiary of British Airways plc, pilots will benefit from the staff travel policy on British Airways in accordance with the terms of the staff travel policy. Details of this policy are in the Employee Handbook.
Sick pay
Provided you comply with all applicable rules, you will receive salary continuation for any period of absence due to illness or injury for a period and at a rate defined by the Company. Full details of the sickness policy are in the Employee Handbook.
Standby Duty
When called from standby, a crew member is required to use his best endeavours to report as soon as possible, however no crew member will take more than 120 minutes from call out to crew room report.
It is the pilot's responsibility to ensure that he remains contactable and within network coverage during periods of standby.
Retirement Age
The normal retirement age is 65.
HFS
Wow! No company contribution to a pension scheme, just a small personal contribution after you have bought your Loss of Licence PHI etc out of the 15% "flexible benefit package"
.
Is the chief pilot leading the way and setting an example on this one or is it BAcon all over again, a BA fat cats "Leadership Team"retaining their full BA package without taking any risk?
. Is the chief pilot leading the way and setting an example on this one or is it BAcon all over again, a BA fat cats "Leadership Team"retaining their full BA package without taking any risk?
Join Date: Jan 2007
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Quite shocking really! I am on a basic of approx 41,000 GBP p.a. flying as an FO on B763ER in PERU all of places, where COL is about 1/5th of that in UK. Was considering returning in the future but I am truly discouraged by these figures. What is the industry coming to in EU?
OW
OW
Doesn't sound a lot of money after UK tax. Perhaps with a bit more backbone, OS pilots would have been on mainline T & C's?
The way things seem to be playing out with credit crunches and the downturn in the world economy, I can foresee OS getting kicked into touch at some point. What price a mainline slot then? I hope everyone has a back up plan.
The way things seem to be playing out with credit crunches and the downturn in the world economy, I can foresee OS getting kicked into touch at some point. What price a mainline slot then? I hope everyone has a back up plan.
Didn't notice these BA managers taking a B or C pay scale to cover costs when they helped themselves to a collection of training qualifications just before jumping back to the mother ship from BACX/ BACon. 
I hear they are now appearing in OS. Just keep an eye out for when they run back to mother, its the first sign that all is not well.
I hear they are now appearing in OS. Just keep an eye out for when they run back to mother, its the first sign that all is not well.
Join Date: Nov 2004
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That'll be "Rubber" then. Nice! Not!! Or at least, he's the CP. Did Dale Moss design the new BARP, (sounds like BARFF and might as well be for all the good it is), scheme BA is using?
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This is the Blueprint of what they want for the whole of BA, and they are very confident that they can get it. Post this in the wannabes forum too - there is now way I'd enter the profession on these terms - they'll kill you before you get to 65, (with nothing to live on in old age perhaps thats just as well).
Join Date: Feb 1999
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I started filling out the application form a few months back, but didn't submit it. I felt the conditions were even worse than Jet2, and we're bad. The life-style would suck, and the one destination would get pretty boring after a couple of months. I guess the crew will stay in some crummy three-star hotel, and the per diem would mean a poor existence for an f/o. The only benefit I saw would be getting placed into mainline at some point in the future, but I reckon those are pretty long odds. There are a number of people from Jet2 in the hold pool, I guess because we have 757s and a small number have already left to join.
I saw the cadet option, which is presumably set-up for CTC to throw cadets at in the future, further devaluing the profession.
I saw the cadet option, which is presumably set-up for CTC to throw cadets at in the future, further devaluing the profession.
Couldonlyaffordafiver
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Rats.....
Just keep an eye out for when they run back to mother, its the first sign that all is not well.
Edit: Sorry, meant Head of Flight Ops.
Last edited by Human Factor; 15th Dec 2008 at 22:40.