Contract agencies and future

[dcoded]

Dear all,

I have not been in this business very long and I would like your input on my thoughts. A question for you who have been in this game for a longer period of time:

Do you feel that more and more airlines are relying on contract agencies for recruitment?

If so, is there going to be a huge lack of captains in the coming years?
I mean, if most airlines move towards contracters who moves between companies every 12-24months there are going to be less captain upgrades?

Or can some one tell me more about how it works?
Can a contract FO get and upgrade to captain?

[fdr]

Do you feel that more and more airlines are relying on contract agencies for recruitment?

80-90% of Flight International Job ads are for them.... (mainly daily repeated ads for same position by same agency....

If so, is there going to be a huge lack of captains in the coming years

Airlines fly aircraft to make money, aircraft require captains, no money in not having captains. Standards wil change to meet the operational reqt. Planes will fly.

I mean, if most airlines move towards contracters who moves between companies every 12-24months there are going to be less captain upgrades?

Airlines will upgrade their own people, even if that means lowering standards. Contract FOs may get upgrades, but they also may be seen as excessive sunk costs in such cases. Dependent on the specific airline. Some airlines using contractors will convert types but generally remain in position.

Contract agencies are in the main a convenience for the airline in avoiding labor issues. They effectively reduce labor costs and avoid local industrial requirements. The agencies provide negligible support to the individual, who just becomes a commodity. They meet the needs of the operator beiong able to circumvent local constraints to workforce management.

In a nutshell, they are parasitic to the individual, but are a benefit to the airline. Agencies are not regulated in any form, and frequently defy the industrial laws of their own country of incorporation. There are very few agencies that are held in any level of respect by the parties that use them, airline or contractor alike. Where the airlines almost invariably abuse the contractor, the agency generally show who pays their bills with alacrity. The contractor is left with little recourse for the inaction of the agency, other than voting with their feet. The contract programs are replete with horror stories of neglect by the agencies, and occasional fraud. A couple of organisations are well reported for this level of abuse, one merely changing it's name when even the airlines wouldn't put up with their behaviour. In the latter case, all the contractors engaged to one airline by this agency were terminated in order to remove the agency from the books of the airline. As always, agencies are in business for themselves, not for the contractor or the airline.

Agencies are a symptom of the race to the bottom of the human resources of the industry. One benefit is that they are also a heads up for any external risk analysis of the airline, as they indicate that structural issues exist or have existed within the airline, being financial, administrative or manpower related.