Norwegian Lack of Pilots
 

The company has sended a letter to all pilots explaining the reasons why they are short of people and offering double day off payment from today until August.

Wasn't this the same last summer....holiday chaos??

Well maybe if they started giving out real contracts they would not have this mess ?

Norwegian strands passengers again

It is not going to be the only low cost in Europe. Let see...

Hardly surprising when they sack most their pilots in the winter.

This seasonal employment trend cannot last for ever. People need to pay to live.

And some pilots are negotiating 5,6, 7 day off payments to do the flights.. read " demanding" airlines may do this to get the bums in the air, but nearly always reap their revenge at the end of the season! on the other hand, make hay while the sun shines as job security is about as long as it takes to read the contract

Well. Well done Norwegian :D

Not a single pilot was laid off over the past winter or even offered reduced working.

This summer's shortage is less to do with poor forward planning and more to do with a wider (quality) pilot shortage in the industry, Ryanair are also having to cancel flights.

Its a viscous circle, crews hitting max hours, insufficient training sectors, bottle necks in CRC checks, Licensing, additional sim training for US operations and a lot of new aircraft.

100% agree.

Si Why airlines prefer to cancel flights and stop their expansion instead negociate with pilots their working conditions for this new age in aviation conditions industry?,

Why they pretend to buy constantly our days off and to live in the edge of the limit? They don't care their pax or reputation?

In other words, the incredible short-sightedness of airlines when it comes to training pilots, as in taking a zero hour person and offering training up to and including ATPL, comes back yet again to bite them in the posterior. 'Someone else will solve my training problems' seems to be their operating mantra.

@EFISchap ... So many people in these management/HR offices having no clue
of what they're doing :ugh:

And yet the major LoCo's are still ordering a/c to expand. Some how the equation is not balanced. Pilots think this will cause a significant rise in remuneration packages. The airlines will be scared like heck to do this because once the high salary is on the table to entice more pilots to join them it will be very difficult to remove it later on. As yearly increments are a % of salary their wage bill good be soaring for years. I know there are some imaginative remuneration constructions out there that could be adjusted i years to come, but pilots will not accept a reduction in income in the future. It will be a fine balance.
Many species went into rapid decline due to lack of food supply. Airline expansion, and their rising share price, could go the same way if they cancel flights and/or do not expand. In their medium term planning there is an assumption that the oft feared 'lack of pilots' will never happen. That can only be avoided by either the industry as a whole improving the T's & C's, or there being a jungle war to entice pilots to the highest payer away others. However, for that to succeed the beneficiary has to have enough training capacity to accept such an influx. That will be a huge bottle neck.
Airlines that have a large retirement bulge in 1 year at the same time a having a huge recruitment burst to both replace the retirees and expansion will have the worst problems. You can't pluck simulators & training captains off the trees.

Weirdly though BA are having no such issues, wonder why?

They still refuse to give out decent contracts and try to run the airline with the minimal amount of people. Well done Norwegian. They are lucky that the fuel prices are still low otherwise it would get very very difficult. Although with their massive debt.......

If there is a REAL shortage of experienced pilots, I just hope those who do accept positions in these companies hold out for a very extortionate package. Just to balance the risible terms offered when the boot is on the other foot. Let's show them how expensive "low cost" is when it comes to people.

There is no real pilot shortage at all. However, there might be a certain shortage of terms and conditions that appeal to experienced pilots. What some airlines in europe do not realise, that especially on the captains market they actually do compete with chinese airlines which offer european bases, working half a year at twice to three times the pay. And of course they do compete with european airlines that do offer better terms and conditions as well. Although those usually do not hire DECs, they can and do train internally.

In the place I am working at the moment, there is a very noticeable pilot shortage. The wet lease factor is at 19%, the sickness rate is 15% and everybody is flying 900 hours this year. All companies do about it is requiring more and more compromises from the pilots councils and the unions, if such things don't exist, they just do it. FY seems to have lost a considerable amount of pilots this year.

IMHO the airlines are still arrogant enough to employ "the right people". I don't know if authorities or the carriers are to blame, but age discrimination in China is a fact.

Well they have other issues, like fixing broken customer relations and making up for 100s of million GPB in losses due to their IT Desaster a couple weeks back :E

Agreed, although I think you know the point I was making. Companies that provide their pilots with decent T and Cs are not struggling for pilots. And whilst IAG are making 1.5 billion in profits you will have a hard time convincing the investors BA have "issues".