UK Charter Airlines General Feelings?
 

I am interested to know the general feeling of all the workforce involved in the UK charter market (engineers,pilots, ops,bean counters,etc) as we are now 2 months into the mad period.

Does everyone feel that the bean counters are taking over,with total disregard to flight safety?

Are your rosters stable?

How many hours do you work a month?

Who thinks that they will stay with their airline?

Many more questions.

Constructive comments only please, as it's important to get a general overview, so that I don't jump out of the frying pan into the fire.



:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Journo warning journo warning!:eek: :eek: :eek:

vertex,

I work for a major UK charter airline and really couldn't recommend it at present. There is too much uncertainty in the holiday market.

As far as my personal roster goes I have been rostered 93 hours this month and I have days off and 5 days leave too! Having said that I haven't been messed around too much this summer, but other people have.

We have the unfortunate situation of temporary commands where once people have worked hard and finally been promoted they are demoted after six months. We have temporary first officers who will be laid off at the beginning of November. There is no prospect of commands for a long time for suitable FO's

With regard to beancounters and safety our Managing Director proposed the idea of performance related pay for captains ( think about it!) which to his credit the DFO rejected outright.

There have been a small number of resignations, mainly FO's, with the rumour of a lot more in the pipeline.

There is the prospect of a merger with another company, no doubt resulting in another bloodbath regarding seniority and possible further redundancies.

And so it goes on.

However good blokes to fly with and varied routes ( pity about night flying! )

All I can say vertex is that if your already employed with a reasonable outfit stay put for now and wait a few months. And having done both, when you do move on, I would suggest you choose scheduled flying.

Regards.

Vertex

Its a tricky one. I work in schedule low cost and would not recommend that right now, the rostering is getting crazier by the year.

In November when most of the charter guys slow down, we will still be working at a similar level to the summer.(I accept it does depend on company/ fleet / basing etc in the charter world).

As for night flying, I'm doing more right now than I ever did in charter.

Do lots of research and ask people actually doing the job for their opinions, often the perception and the reality are very different.

Good Luck and if you find something nice let me know! ;)

Vertex,

Having tried charter, low cost schedule and conventional (if thats the right term) schedule ::::::::::: No contest. Charter and low cost are all about extracting the maximum amount of revenue from the employees and paying the absolute minimum that they can get away with. Usually, you wil have unstable rosters, a poor (if any) pension plan and little job security.

I now work for a conventional sceduled airline. It sure has its problems but I wouldn't go back to charter or low cost for all the tea in china.

Swings and Roundabouts
 

I do not think one can be simplistic on this subject quite so easily, vertex. There are good and bad aspects on both sides of the sched/charter fence. There are plenty of both types of companies that work their crews right up to legal limits, pay poorly and have unstable rosters, not to mention having a shaky future and dismal financial results.

The size of an airline is not always indicative of job-security or lifestyle quality, either. There were quite a few carriers that went down (or needed a State handout) in the wake of 9/11 that had been around for decades.

Assuming you are fortunate enough to be in a well-organised and remunerated airline, a lot depends on your tastes. A lot of folks, myself included, enjoy the wide variety of flying available annually from charter flying, whilst others prefer the more regular aspects of scheduled carriers. Many of the low-cost airlines also have an increasingly wide variety of destinations to fly to.

The ultimate factor to consider is the reward package and quality of life (QOL) and one has to look carefully at the options available. There is also that elusive thing called luck! Your choice during depressed times may be very limited, while in boom periods the world can be your oyster (or as PPRuNe Pop might say, "your Auster!").

I have spent the past 15 years with a major British charter airline which I was fortunate enough to join during a period of much choice. Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed it whilst having time for my home life, hobbies and interests. Like everyone else, we have had our spats with the management and, like every other job I can think of, the good times and bad times have had a cyclic (or perhaps "oval") trend. Sometimes I am a paradigm of peace and bonhomie and sometimes I get as mad as hell. There are invariably issues to be resolved, some small some great, but none yet to make me want to get up and leave.

I also know that some of my colleagues have a different perspective but we have traditionally had a very low turnover of pilots leaving before retirement, so it clearly can't have been all bad. We have generally had a good BALPA representation and in recent times a number of QOL items have been introduced which have given us one of the best roster stabilities in the industry as well as having considerable control over when our free time occurs on the roster. As with many other operators, some work rosters are quite pleasant and some are quite awful. Over a longish cycle of time the coin seems to fall about 50/50.

Unlike some of the above PPRuNers, my hours have always been fairly steady throughout the year with, surprisingly, Feb & Mar often producing the highest score. I am well aware that certain of my colleagues at other bases would not find this to be so in their cases. Such are the vagaries of all multi-base companies, outside the USA. Apart from a significant downturn in longhaul recently, which is about to reverse, we rode out the post-9/11 period with no pilot lay-offs (but no recruitment) a healthy profit and even a meagre pay rise.

I have flown a pleasant mixture of short and long haul and have been to many interesting places over the years. On average I have taken Madam Syn along on one trip per year, with some good down-time in places like Oz, USA, India and the Carribbean. My determined choice of base and, as ever, Lady Luck, have of course played a part in all this.

I have many friends across the world of aviation, of whom some have a similar view of their company to mine and some have been as miserable as sin. There are none that I would wish to swap with and, if I were back in the mid-80s, I would not want to change my decision to join this one.

So whether you are a Wannabee or just "Curious of Grub Street", vertex, I hope this adds a useful perspective.

Dr Syn

An excellent post. I have to say having worked for the same company you do (educated guess)I think its head and shoulders the best in my own experience.

However I'd still be an FO in my fourteenth year and I just don't think I could have hacked it that long. The guys joining now may have a bit more of that good luck that you definitely need.