Thomsonfly or Air Atlanta Europe
 

If you were given the choice between Air Atlanta Europe on a B767 or Thomsonfly on the B737, which one would you go for?

(I am already type rated on the B767, Thomsonfly deduct the 73 rating from your salary.)

I would go with the Company that gives you the job ! ;)

I hear Air Atlanta treats its pilots almost as poorly as Ryanair and pays absolute crapp... I'd go for Thomsonfly and then ultimately transfer over to Britannia on the 757/767 after the required years on the 737. Go for the parent company and the long-term potential. Air Atlanta is a lowest-cost operator and the pilots will always be subjected to cost pressures as competition increases in the future.

I say choose Thomsonfly/Britannia.

Agree, no question. Thomsonfly is a real job, Air Atlanta are cut-price desperation merchants.

What amazes me is that he asked the question in the first place!!

Akro Where have you been these past few years???

gruezi,
I agree, no question....
servus

Thanks for all your replies!
I just try to get as much information as I can to make the decision. Of course the temptation is there to go for the "big plane" immediately, but then there is also the more reasonable thought to take the job with a solid airline with a good reputation. On the other hand, investing in a rating for an "old" 737-300/500 raises some doubts as well. I am not sure if I would get double rated (737-300/500 and 737NG) with Thomsonfly.

Any further comments are highly appreciated!

(Servus Heimata ;) )

Hi Akro

Forget about the type, good jobs are very difficult to find now and Thomsonfly is one of them by all accounts.

Also the 767 is a great aeroplane but short haul 737 flying will be better experience handling-wise. You are quite likely to fly the 7E7 or 777 later on with Britannia and I would be surprised if they don't upgrade the classis 737 fleet sometime too.

Akro
I think the correspondents above failed to read the original title.
If its Air Atlanta EUROPE then i can tell you that it is a professional well run decently paid outfit, that has little left in common with Air Atlanta ICELANDIC that these gentlemen run down every time their name appears.
AAE are much more closely tied in with Excel now, and no one has questioned the way they treat their pilots. Its CAP371 all the way, BALPA and UK contracts. Not to be confused with Icelandic contractors who work for Jerry O'Springer.
I have no knowledge of Thomsonfly, so will break the tradition on this thread and offer no proof of my ignorance :)
All the best
C

Crundale

You assume incorrectly and I stand by my post.

Seriously, choose Thomsonfly and save yourself a lot of grief down the road.

... as far as i know, AE and AAI will be definitively merged together under one roof - name to be most likely "Air Atlanta" from 1.st jan. 2005 -

99% sure!

crundale is right about the conditions at Air Atlanta EUROPE!

The name for the new Air Atlanta group will be AVION GROUP as of 1st of Jan 2005. Here is the link: Air Atlanta

In my opinion there are still pros and cons for both Companies.

Thank you for your replies though!

Akro

Believe what you want to believe.

I still disagree somewhat with Crundale and yes I know the difference between Europe and Icelandic! :rolleyes:

Stan Woolley

Didn't mean to offend anyone. I am just "fishing" for information to make up my mind! :)

Akro

No offence taken - nice to have the choice, good luck.

Akro,

Maybe you should take the position at Air Atlanta so that I can take your position at Thomsonfly. Yeah, do that - please go to Air Atlanta...

Take the job with AAE. The Chief Pilot is a top bloke and the conditions and flying is great. crundale is correct, and having worked with both AAI (present employment) and AAE, I wouldn't knock either job back. :ok:

Go for Thompsonfly! It is a low cost airline but has exactly the same T&C's as the mainline. You get good time off and rostering is great. Compared with my last airline, practises put in place over the years are a breath of fresh air. Unlike any other airline. I myself think the contract is a good one. How many airlines offer you a final salary pension scheme? The good thing about Thompsonfly/Britannia is that the company is very cautious, unlike the orange one that are apparently in trouble due to over expansion.
Leave is great. The try to discourage you from being off on weekends by offering an extra two days free if you start your leave mid week. Yu also get gold pairs and silver pairs. They are two days off and you can get five pairs of each. The gold pairs can be booked a year in advance and the silver pairs 12 weeks before the date(if available).
After a certain period, you can transfer over to mainline, although they are soon going to trial dual rating pilots on the 737/757 and 737/767.
I always think that the sign of a good airline is an airline where pilots never leave. No one leaves Britannia or should I say Thompsonfly.
In my view, I would sign it.Hope the above has helped.

ThompsonFly

Are we talking about the same orange one here ? you say that the orange one is in trouble .

As far as i am aware Easyjet have just posted £50 million after tax profits , have £500 million in cash !!!!! and have increased yield and load factor in the last financial year . All this whilst introducing a new type , significant expansion and some of the highest oil prices the industry has ever seen . Doesnt look like trouble from where im sitting.

There are dozens of ex Britannia people working at EZY and i mean dozens . At all levels from TRE base trainers down to F/o.

I note from the Sunday Times business section last week that the IT market in the UK has contracted 25% in the last year in terms of booking made with the UK IT outfits.

As far as i am aware no-one is saying that the LOCO market is contacting at 25% per -annum .

I know where id rather be sitting.

NF