Lufthansa Italia recruitment

[1975]

Hello there.

I have been called in for the DLR tests in Hamburg for LH Italia.

Can anyone tell me something about the company itself, seems like a lot of steem blowing around this operation. I am a nordic turboprop pilot. Is it a good workplace, multicultural? Any info appreciated

P.S. i have read all the horrible threads about these tests, not asking about any of that, have been sent material 2 months in advance of my test date.

Regards

1975

[zedoscarro]

Sorry mate, cannot help you with that.

Just out of curiosity: Do you speak Italian?

[1975]

No I do not speak Italian..

[Greenpilots]

Hi there,

Italian is not a requirement, but nice to have. However I do not think that anybody cares, because in the past they didn't find enough Italian pilots anyway...

After the strike of Lufthansa pilots this spring, things have now been sorted out. Initially all captains will be be Lufthansa F/Os that are being promoted and based in Milan, until a stable operation with "own" personal can be assured. How long that is nobody knows yet, but there is some more information to come around during the week.

At the moment all crew members (cockpit and cabin) are Lufthansa employees. There are dedicated cabin members, who all speak Italian and are in Milan on a (more or less) regular basis. Cockpit is from Lufthansa in MUC and FRA. Crewmembers are proceeding from their bases in MUC and FRA to MXP, where they are usually staying for three up to five days. Hotel is provided. This of course is gonna change when people are being based there.

Work itself is pretty nice at the moment. Not as much stress as when operating out of the other hubs. Ground staff is mostly well trained and experience how it should be done (compared to Germany) helps to further increase the quality of handling. Administration is partly German, partly Italian, however locals take over work as soon as possible.

Interviews for cabin crew have taken place. Rumour has it that most of the ones that would have been taken (low number of all applicants), did not want to work for the salary they offered. Cockpit salary will be okay, but surely below Lufthansa standards, although it was promised that training and pay will be according to our level. There will be no mixed operation (original LH and LHI crews), so when enough crew members have been trained to operate one aircraft, they will start operating the first aircraft themselves. Question is when that will be, as requirements for captains still have to be announced and then people have to apply and get trained. So I don't expect it to be too soon, maybe somewhen end of the year. Btw, all aircraft are ex Lufthansa and Germanwings, initally starting with A319s (minor differences between the two airlines), while this year one A320 also joined the fleet. Six of these aircraft are for permanent use (all ex Germanwings + one LH) with LHI, having been outfitted with an espresso machine (only airline with business class on domestic Italian services!) and proper titles and all that (they all have been named as well).

Destinations are quite interesting for the Lufthansa pilot, with Olbia, Palermo, Ibizia, Split and Bari not being in our schedules normally. Other cities such as London, Paris, Barcelona and Madrid are well known however. Rumours says that once the AOC is through with the Italian authorities, flights to Moscow and other non-EU destinations will be started (don't know how Casablanca has been fitted into that...). Budapest and Bucharest are already being flown to in Eastern Europe. When flights to Rome still existed, we did have nightstops there as well, but now it is down to CDG, being the only place except MXP where you gonna end your daily trip. Therefore we fly either two or four flights a day. Ground times are normally between 40 and 50 minutes. Not much for our kind of operation, but enough. Last year we had stops in Barcelona with 1,5 hours, which was great for a little breakfast or so, but that was the start-up phase...

All that being said, I can only say that I enjoy flying there very much. Being there regulary I know a lot of the people simply by seeing them so often. If you are in for the Italian mentality, then you will not have that many problems there. I must also say that I see issues arising, when control by the German Lufthansa has gone into Italian hands. I like the guys, but being German you sure have some qualities that others are missing at certain points. We are keeping up the pressure if we don't like things...
It must also be noted that the future of LHI is far from certain. Bookings over the summer have been good, but airlines like easyJet and Alitalia will not give up their market share easily.

Given the entry requirements (which requirements?) you may give it a shot. But be prepared! The test is difficult and only five pilots made it through when they accepted applications in 2008...

You are very welcome to ask an questions about it! I will be ready to answer

[Dr Esteban]

Hi Greenpilots!

Thanks for taking the time to post this comprehensive summary on the LHITA operation.

When LHITA started a few years ago the longterm plan was to add longhaul aircraft at some stage.
Is this still in the pipeline or have they abandoned these plans?

Grazie,

The Doc

[Greenpilots]

Ciao Dottore!

Well, there has been a lot of speculation about it, but personally I don't see it coming soon. The Italian network is not strong enough yet and the market very competitive. I am sure there will be more cooperation with Star Alliance partners that are also flying to MXP, but flying long-haul for LHI is still distant future I would say. Question is also were to get thebig aircraft and I don't think it is worth having only one or two based in MXP, when passengers can be transferred to one of the other hubs of LH in Europe (FRA, MUC, ZRH, BRU, VIE, DUS) easily. Connections to these hubs are very good and LH has a pretty good market share in MXP with all its sister companies, so I think they will rather try to get more out of the Italian market (with Air One now flying with Alitalia) by connecting more cities within the country (this season Olbia and Palermo are new and doing very good, more frequencies to Napoli and then there is also Air Dolomiti) and maybe connect some of the less frequented cities to the network. For example the daily flight to Bari was the cities only connection to the Star network, but now we also flights from/to MUC, so it certainly was a door opener. Charter also plays a minor role on weekends (Split, Ibiza, Copenhagen, Amsterdam are examples).
The overall question is how (if) the airline can grow in Europe together with all the other LH companies and where to get the aircraft. As I said, they are all from Germanwings and Lufthansa and those airlines surely need them themselves with the economy going up again. Will be interesting to see!

Any more questions are welcome. I will be in Milano next week, if anyone would like to get in personal contact and have lunch or so

[Greenpilots]

What I forgot to add:

I am not sure about the conditions at the "new" LHI, but it is supposed to be close to our standards, so I will just give you a short overview here. We are off-duty for at least 10 days, mostly around 12. Block hours are around 60-70 in a summer month, while we are getting paid a bit more than that. With everyone flying a lot, standbys happen about every second or third month. Many pilots commute from somewhere else in Germany and neighbouring countries in Europe (Austria and Switzerland).
Yet again, LHI should be close to our conditions, but I bet they will not meet them.

[alkor]

hi,

Are they still hiring pilots. Where can I apply?

Cheers,
a

[Greenpilots]

Well, they are basically starting again to look for candidates.

Try to google: Lufthansa Italia pilot job. Click on the first link and it will take you to Online application Lufthansa Italia

[angelorange]

DLR exam/interview in Italian

Thank you for you interest in applying for Lufthansa Italia.
Unfortunately we have to inform you, that we cannot take your application into consideration, since you do not comply with the requirements.
The Italian language is one of the important requirements.

We wish you all the best for your future personal career.
Best regards

[Greenpilots]

But that was not recently, right? Italian was mandatory in the first phase, but after they didn't get enough people that made it through the test, it was dropped. Current requirements say:

"Fluent in English (written and spoken), preferably Italian fluent"

[angelorange]

Tx Greenpilots for updated information. That reply was in May 2009.

Maybe this is the future:

::: Lufthansa Italia VA ::: Welcome on board on YOUR Lufthansa Italia Flight :::

But virtual pay not so good!

[1975]

Thank you greenpilots for the reply, alot of useful information. I am assuming that they prefer pilots with jet experience instead of turboprop. It is my understanding that a proper screening process is to find certain type of pilots, that the administration want to form to their operation, instead of just looking at total hours and such things, which I think is not a good measuremark for pilot quality, instead of looking at other things as well. Pretty sure that the tests in Hamburg are going to be hard, but a challenge and alot of fun, I will look at it as a learning process and experience, instead of something to fear. I find almost all talk here point in a negative way.

Regards

1975

[Greenpilots]

That's the spirit! You will certainly learn something! Hours don't count much, it is all about your abilities in getting through the computer tests and later on flying and communication.

[EAM]

I find almost all talk here point in a negative way.

That is because if you are well prepared, it is not too difficult to pass the first one, that makes to whole thest a bit senseless.
At the end your flying skills and your experience do not count very much its all down to the DLR Assessment and compared to other assessments, like easyjet or others, the DLR is not quite a good one and you do not get a real feedback at the end like easyjet does.

And it is not really true that they couldnt find enough italian pilots, as Greenpilots says, it was simply the case that most of the applicants (italian or not) have been selected out on the SIM by LH guys. Screening has been stopped after that.
Now after the case has been solved and there is an agreement with the LH pilots, the screening has started again and most of the italian pilots are beeing called again.

So in your case, get prepared, I guess the sky test will make it, if you pass the fist stage in Hamburg, take some hours on a 737 SIM if you are not current on it. If you pass the SIM then get prepared for the assessment.
Good luck.

[Greenpilots]

That is what I meant by not finding enough Italians. From what I heard (first hand!) it was difficult to find people passing the sim, not because the Germans didn't like them, but because they did not meet the requirements. Some of the stories I heard were unbelievable... I think many applicants took the test light-hearted and did not prepare well enough.
The first stage should not be too difficult for a pilot, but the sim and the assessement center are really tricky. LH has very high expectations and standards and skills like CRM are really important (especially for captains).
Saying that the DLR test is not a good one is quite controversial statement... Depends on the perspective I guess

[EAM]

Well, it was even confirmed by LH pilots and TREs that a lot of the applicants have been selected out, not because of their performance.
I know a lot of AZ guys and even 737 rated pilots failed the sim.
One point is, that now even pilots who failed in the first place are beeing called again, which is usually not the case.

If you have done other assessments with other airlines you are able to compare.

[marghe83]

Are you sure they're calling pilots who failed the sim last year?can you tell us something more about it?thanks a lot!!!

[Betaranger]

How does the payscale look like, CPT/FO?

[nopoal]

Hi all,

The pay for average is 4200 euros gross per 80 hrs for fo.

Does someone know what will be this in net (after taxes)?

Thanks,

nopo