gss stansted
 

What is it currently like at gss, I see that they reqire f/o's. Are there any direct entry captain possibilities? Please pm me if possible.

Where did you get the info from, if you dont mind me asking, as their site has a no vacancies at the moment pop up under the vacancies link.
Regards
SD

Ad in Flight International...

Yep! some good ole fashioned T's & C's wouldn't go amiss.
Examples of rosters, roster stability, time off between duties, etc.

Got some info on salaries but not much on annual increments, or typical take home pay.

Could you commute from say NCL, GLA or EDI?

Routes look OK, how many sectors though?
Where are the stop overs generally?

When do you start on salary? Before or "after" type rating?
( as seems to be the norm these days with Jet2, Easy, et al.)
Line training?

All info greatfully appreciated.

Lets not start this into another BA/GSS/ATLAS Slanging match though.

PLEASE!!!! :ok:

Gentlemen

I will try to stick to the known facts..........

The secondment issue is still very current. There are five BA F/O's with GSS at present. Our understanding of the arrangement is that BA will take 2/3's of all new commands till they have 50% of commands then it will be 50 / 50 between BA F/O's and GSS F/O's. So there is no possibility of direct entry commands outside of BA. (we hope!!)

There are rumours of a fourth aircraft in late Spring 05 with a fifth in the Winter 05.

We are contracted for 20 working days per month.

F / o Salaries

Year 1 £ 35,200
2 £ 36,630
3 £ 38,115
4 £ 39,655
5 £ 41,195
6 £ 42,845
7 £ 44,558
8 £ 46,340
9 £ 48,194
10 £ 50,122

Per Diems are £2.00 tax free for all time spent away from base. Pension contribution is 5% (min) from you 5% (max) from the company.

If you are not type rated the bond is £25,000 decreasing each year, not each month. You will receive PD only, no salary, until you complete the type rating.

There is no "standard" trip but a frequent one might be STN - HHN taxi FRA. FRA - HKG. HKG - DEL position MAA - STN which would take up to 9 days. Trips vary between 2 and 11 days in length, however, it is not uncommon to be delayed back. Hotels are of a good standard.

Our contract states business class on flights over six hours "when available". We are listed as BA staff (Ha) so often get bumped into economy coming back from Jo'burg or Hong Kong.

Commuting is possible but we get no consessions from BA with regards to tickets or staff travel.

Discussions are due to start in January for a new pay deal.

Hope this helps

William,

Many thanks for the info.
How long is the Ground school, Sim training etc?
Where is this carried out? UK? States?

How long does the Line Training take?

Thanks Again. :ok:

Smokie

The last full type rating course was a while ago (Feb 2003) but was conducted by Lufthansa in Frankfurt. Two weeks for the groundschool. Four sessions in the fixed base sim then ten sessions in the full flight sim. Base training has been done at either East Midlands or Manston. Line training is approx ten sectors.

Questions for Billy
 

Bíllabong,

Thanks for the info. What are your views as to the prospects for command for F/O's who may be recruited in the current campaign. In the case of high command time captains, do you think they stand a reasonable chance of command? Is the current BA crewing situation likely to continue in view of projected shortfalls in the -400 fleet at Airways? Grateful for your insight and views.

Ozi.

Ms T

There is NO projected shortfall on the -400 fleet at BA. It is the senior fleet with lots of people waiting to get onto it in both seats.

William a Bong
What are the average hours flown per month/annually?

Thanks
SD

So many questions!!!!

Ms Turret

At present many of the F/O's on the seniority list are trying to gets jobs elsewhere. They have seen their command propects virtually eliminated by the secondment issue and feel that there is no point in staying with GSS. We have been assured by our Director of Operations that there are no circumstances that would allow promotions out of seniority regardless of previous experience. However that had previously been said before the secondment started. Also there are a few ex BA captains flying with us as F/O's (under sixty) who would also be ahead of you in the queue. If natural progression was taken into account you would probably be looking at 8 -10 years. (My guess)

Sir Donald

Most crew are away for 18 - 20 days per month but only average approx 600 hours per year. If the other aircraft that may come online next year increase rotations instead of new markets that could increase.

Yesterday we were given the results of a ballot regarding union representation which would suggest that BALPA may be invited to represent us soon. Who knows how that might change things for better or worse.

Have you any ex Brize guys with GSS?

35,200 GBP starting for a long haul widebody FO! What sort of monkeys do you get for those peanuts? And not being paid while training!!!! I can only hope that pilots will say no to these apalling t's and c's. But the lure of a 744 will probably mean they will take it.

Shameful! :(

hi there,
could anybody be kind enough to post what the current
form of the interview is like.
ie, psychometric tests,sim, tech questions?

thanks for the info

Anyone heard anything yet?

<<.....and nearly all British F/Os below the top 4 are trying to get out.>>

How many FOs are there and how many of them are ex BA captains?

TVM Jack.

I suspect the picture will become more confused when HMG makes retirement age illegal as the ex BA Cs will be entitled to stay in the LHS although the French may have something to say about it.......

I am led to believe that the BACC want the work to be brought back in house - I wonder whether that will lead to existing GSS pilots being integrated onto the BA seniority list - what fun and games (esp for the GSS ex BA pilots).

got interview in december,

is there any info of people who have already been?
is there only one or is it two interviews?
how many f/o's are they looking for?

and as there are quite a few ba chaps coming in the LHS
is there a chance that gss pilots, will get some ba staff travel concessions,like id 90's?
thanks

Skery 1A, what experience do you have?
What type ratings? Long haul 757,767, A330 perhaps?

I just got a "Sorry but although you meet our minium hours and experience requirements, we are not able to process your application any further" etc etc.

Which is strange as I initially recieved an e-mail the day after I applied, saying that we will reply in writing to you within the next two weeks, which I took to be quite positive.

I have 8500 hrs and 5500 hrs on Medium Jets.
Perhaps with any of the ratings above it may have been a different story???:confused:

smokie,
i got 4500 TT, 2500 Barbie,1500 TP.

sent a cv on spec,2 weeks later they advertised in Flight and another week later they called me for an interview.
has anybody been to interview,or even better given a start date?

any fact based info appreciated.

thanks

I'm probably being thick here but what does "2500 Barbie" mean?

EMB 145, that's what our big brothers in ba call it.

Other Routes
 

Someone already mentioned a few of the routes in the GSS system - HKG, Joberg, Delhi, FRA/Hahn, and a few others. Can someone list some of the other routes? Can you get pretty good variety or are you flying the same trunk routes over and over? What's the current most popular layover?

I agree that the starting FO pay is surprisingly low for the 400 series - but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given the state of this industry... Which airline seems to be the source of most of the recent newhires (beyond the geriatric BA crowd) - Ryanair, Easy, etc.?