Meanwhile, the German press is phantasizing that it is all an elaborate plot by Ryanair's management to be able to massively dump capacity on the German market as soon as airberlin comes to a grinding halt and shuts down shop....

Yeah, it's about to get the slots !?:confused:

But FR aren't in the bidding process, are they?

If what the article says about the Ryanair pilots thinking to go on strike it's true, it will be the best news I got all year! I hope they will strike for at least a week!

It makes me very happy to see MOL struggling to fill the aircrafts with pilots. I hope his arrogance will cost him dearly.

SPOT ON Transpond:ok:

A Richard Branson quote. How apt.

With a comment like that, if you were twice as smart Arfur you'd be stupid.

as I already said, MOL should resign from his position. Really. That's the only right thing that he should do.

£74million from share sales in June probably suggests hes bought his retirement home and off soon anyway...

Yes, he is probably planning to bail soon, he knows he's been squeezing the lemon, and like any con man, he knows the time as come.

Does Ryanair have a pilot shortage? - BBC News

Interesting article on the BBC, nice to see a news outlet finally acknowledging that all might not be as it seems with Ryanair's excuses.

working for Ryanair is the easiest job ever. Anybody who thinks it's difficult clearly has never had a real job in the real world. Throw it away in haste repent at leisure

Indeed, about time that O Lairy and his management pulls out. Again, a pan European strike for one week or more would give him a signal, he went too far in his greedy effort to make more and more profit at the cost of his flying personnel.

Let,s learn him a lesson, stand up for your working conditions!

Your username was accurately chosen.

Top shelf argument. Would 1500h rule prevent the Colgan crash?

Probably would not have prevented it but this 1500h rule does force the airlines to increase the terms and conditions. In return I hope the pilots will call in fatigue at earlier stages resulting in safer skies.

What gets on my nerves is when people start to argue that the problem with FR are the 200h cadets and thus indirectly implying 'safety argument', which can be refuted in an instant. 1500h rule was implemented to stop the devaluation of our profession and not due to safety.

I had thought of that as well... As long as you prove that you are an affected passenger, you get a nice discount and we'll show you what a good customer service is. So far nothing was done in that way in my company...

I'm sure the timing is just coincidence but this is how the issue is being spun in some local papers

easyJet launch massive flight sale amid Ryanair cancellation chaos - Birmingham Mail

easyJet launches flash flight sale as Ryanair chaos continues - Liverpool Echo

If companies like Norwegian, easyJet and even Wizz play this game smart, they could put in the killer blow to Ryanair.

For many it might seem unlikely, but Ryanair are wobbling in the ring, a bit like Conor McGregor against Mayweather.

The more publicity around this, the more this is going to put a serious dent into customer confidence in the company.

Ryanair there now for the taking, and it's all their own making, it could not happen to a nicer company. :
Good riddance MOL and Ryanair

The 200h cadets are part (a big part) of the problem in Ryanair and not for safety reasons. They accept this ridiculous terms and conditions offered to them by Ryanair because they want to get experience and then move on to a "better airline with better T&C".
What they don't realize is that by accepting this T&C they are enabling Ryanair to grow and dictate the T&C across Europe.
If the cadets keep accepting this :mad: from Ryanair the "better airlines with better T&C" won't be around for much longer.

Thanks for posting the link Hargreaves.

Surprised that following the recent press conferences crews haven't gone out on a mass day of sickness....

I bet his Jockeys at Gigginstown Stables don't have to pay for water....or do they?

In my company (somewhere in the Eastern Europe, not a lo co company:) we also hire 200h cadets, but we have a strong union so this has no effect on our t&c's. So the problem with FR are not cadets per se, but the lack of organised labour (and the free market zealots in the Brussels that look past the many questionable practices regarding taxes).

But looking at a broader picture (throughout the industry), if you base guys from France in Lithuania, without giving them a choice, this is going to became a safety issue somewhere along the line (virtually destroyed private/family life, fatigue due to commuting, which may in the end result in depression, alcoholism etc).

Airlines can always throw more money your way, but this doesn't really solve the problem. We often hear about pilot fatigue in the media, but this simple problem (ie that you have no/very limited choice about the location of your base) is almost never mentioned even though it is in a way the thing that encompasses many of the other issues. I know many guys who would gladly take a pay cut if they could work an hour drive from their home.

Good, so basically You can pay and get a base nearby home. Seems an improvement of T&Cs.
:ugh:

Or vice versa: they throw a 1000 euros your way and of you go to Vladivostok. And if you get a big enough pool of idiots, they will go there for 'free'. Yes, to me personally, family life is more important than salary. Feel free to disagree.

P.s
Since when are t&c's only about salary?

What has happened to the Ryanair Pilot group?
Their webwite is dead, their twitteraccount has been idle since 2016.

that was just BS runned by dutch idiots

we are doing things by ourselves this time...

Seems like a very buttered up offer, one in which they will try and screw you despite your best efforts to help them out.

A proper overtime agreement would be better with no strings attached. Not sure how the financial aspect of this offer would compare to other airlines overtime agreements. As a side I've done more overtime this year in my outfit than their desperation plea is offering.

My comment was ironic in case you did not get it.

A requirement to work 10 days off in a year sounds like an ongoing crewing issue to me, not one that will be solved in less than 6 weeks. Is MOL really sure that this won't happen again? And what's the definition of an 'unauthorised absence?' Anything they want it to be I'd bet!

Some bonus! Incredible that FR are still dictating terms to their pilots in their hour of need.

You are totally correct!
I wish they could see that.

About the 200H cadets. When you get lied to by the promotional material fed out by the LoCo's and the respective trainin companies and start the course, what are you supposed to do? You expect people who are now £100k in debt to not sign up to those :mad: contracts and "take one for the team"? Hell no.

The whole thing is crap, but when you get taken in by a lie, who's fault is it? Is it the cadets fault for believing the lie, or CTC's fault for feeding the lie that puts them in a situation where they can't refuse the debt.

And for those who say, they should just do it the old fashioned way, try paying a mortgage nowadays on a junior flying instructors salary and see how well that goes.

Yeah for newbies and trying to say it's their fault for joining is a bit steep having loans already to pay off etc. As soon as you are through training you are commmitted and the interest is ticking on the debt in many cases so you need to make the call of whats best at that time. Invest more and maybe get a job and experience or wait and pay the interest and look elsewhere for another opportunity.

It is so easy to blame the cadet, but RYR is not P2F just poor T&C, and couples a years ago it was the only deal a low timer pilots could find, and It was harsh to get in. It is way more better than paid line training, don't you think ?
And do you have any ideas how difficult it is for a cadet to have it first job in this industry ?
A RYR pilot stay on average 4 years, well MOL created the biggest FTO ever ! And does BA, EZY, Norwegian complain about the quality of former Ryanair cadet ? of course no sir

I imagine they thought they could ride the tide this time and then deal with the recruitment issue before it happened next year..

1 of 2 things will happen.

Either MOL is right when he said there wasn't a pilot shortage issue..

Or they will have spend the next 10 months recuiting like mad to try and dig themselves out of the hole they said they weren't in before it happens again, which of course they will deny is happening and was never an issue!

Regardless, if they are clever they could simply ground aircraft ahead of time and say it's part of the grand corporate plan rather than do what they did this time and cancel flights ..

The engines may not be spinning but management certainly will be spinning the truth!

:suspect:

Did someone find out 'where they live'?

:rolleyes:

Or they could simply prepare a bit better by scheduling in contractors to fly more at the beginning of the year, so they have more regulars/permanents/long timers left with hours, and less hollidays to take, at the end of the season. Plus taking a bit more height for disruptions and delays.
It is all about having a longer view in the operational planning, however that raises the requirement of an approximate full year schedule available already at the befinning of the year = a longer time-horizon.

A rumour without a leg to stand on will get around some other way. Still it's great to read free speech on Ryanair. Unlike what happened to any discussions on the 'unmentionable' airline here.

Good to see Jim A get his article in the guardian. He was prepared to (and did!) sacrifice his job in an attempt to improve conditions with his work with GTD.

I see rumours abound that certain bases are circulating a response to Mick Hickey's memo given their entirely reasonable doubt that many will meet the qualifying conditions. I fully applaud their efforts and hope they get a well deserved improvement in T&Cs.

Ryanair have so eroded their trust that even if they were stood outside the crewroom dispensing wads of banknotes people wouldn't believe them.