I have no firm or verifiable info but a couple I’ve spoken to at FR say that as things stand the summer schedule is going to be pretty “tight”. The feeling from them was that any sort of discruption will be rather uncomfortable and will rely on pilot goodwill to fill in the gaps... one suggested that if union talks don’t progress that goodwill might not be there. Also suggested was that the impasse with management could see summer strikes on the cards. Feelings perhaps that MOL is starting to dig his heels in now that the immediate pressure is off? Take from that what you will....

The advice I would pass on is to book with another airline, not just because of the uncertainty of their ability to operate their programme, but from now and forever until this company turns a corner and starts to act professionally and with some morals.

Thanks for the information guys. Just to clarify I work for another airline and as I am sure you are aware @Johnny F@rt Pants no matter how much you try to educate friends on such matters it falls on deaf ears when flight times and cost are suitable to them.

Speed alive - it’s such a shame isn’t it. At least giving them concerns over the status of their flights might just open their eyes.

Crewing flights with trained crews is an arithmetical problem. Having enough trained pilots is an arithmetical problem plus a training one. The latter requires enough LTC's. It also requires enough time to pump the cadets through base training, after LST, at a required rate without refresher sim time. Not all airlines can do that, especially if they are expanding like a met' ballon rising aloft.

This is all brilliant of Michael's brilliant 4d chess strategy, never forget that he is a master tactician and a stable genius

1. Further antagonise staff while attrition is still astronomical

2. Damage consumer confidence by announcing there may be strikes at Easter.

3. Try to half-heartedly sell the 'Big Bad Union' story, which is usually popular, except if people despise your company more than they despise the prospect of overpaid layabouts.

4 ?

5 Profit?

Well Who would be surprised by these tactics.
A leopard never changes its spots.
Very interesting to see how it is reported in the Irish media
Spin as usual

Does MOL actually risk flying on Ryanair (other than shallow promotional exercises) ?

Or, more likely , to avoid the low life, uses the company Gulfstream!

Try to half-heartedly sell the 'Big Bad Union' story,

Is that the Big Bad Union that cooperates inside a decades long reasonably happy & profitable Britannia/Thomson/Tui; or LoCo major competitor easy jet, that also seems reasonably a happy and profitable place and which seems, we are told, to offer better T's & C's?

Interesting that RYR sets its stall, of T's & C's, out against the newbie Norwegian and smallie Jet 2. Why is Europe's biggest and most favourite airline, and perhaps most profitable, simply not the top of the tree? Don't say we are 10/20% better than the lowly ones, just say "we are the best"or shut up.

Exactly what I thought, unless they are hit hard with Europe wide spread strikes things are not going to change.

Does anyone have any news about the crew's intentions or did they cave in?

Primera are about to start hiring for the first of their 10 737 Max aircraft (based all over Europe). These will be going transatlantic alongside the A321neos.

They know they have to beat what RYR are offering to make it worthwhile. Road show at Stansted in the very near future. Another nail in MOL's coffin.

TheMightyAtom

My immediate thought when I saw the comments is that maybe FR have identified that rostering will be very tight from Easter due to resignations etc.

So MOL is proactively lining up someone else to blame (pesky unions) for the inevitable cancellations.

The goal being to portray the issue as a temporary IR problem, rather than a structural deficit of crew.

Well, it would be nice to see some actual strike action going on by the pilots that still have some self-respect (a.k.a. non-UK based) during Easter.

I can just visualise the red flag with a hammer and sickle flying over your house and sewn on your flight-bag!

Any strike over Easter could be a perfect way of reducing the pilots' annual hours/days with someone else to blame!

How many airlines are there left in the UK now that don't have meaningful BALPA involvement?

Read a very good article recently about how the extreme of dealing with a union was a strike, while the extreme of not dealing with a union is that pilots leave. The total disruption caused by a strike is much less than the total disruption caused by pilots leaving, especially during periods (now!) of pilot shortages.

Good point Trossie, after a strike you still have a workforce.

Psychopathic viewpoint, the travelling public would have their travel plans disrupted.

The travelling public want cheap tickets, even at the cost of the lifestyle of a pilot. They deserve to have their travel plans disrupted if they buy tickets knowing the pilot force of an airline is unhappy and threatening industrial action!

New Start-Up airline. "Fair-trade Express." Required, but doubt it will ever happen.

For me it seems they want cheap tickets even at the cost of saftey....

The passengers know what they are getting when they buy tickets with Ryanair - and pilots at Ryanair knew what they were getting when they signed up and paid for their ratings.

The passengers are not to blame ...

Same could be said about blood diamonds, cobalt, bananas, coffee.

Still doesn’t make poor treatment of staff legitimate.