Dont waste your time and money on second stage only to wait in hold pool for nothing!
Baltic will not need anyone till summer season, if any.
unless poeple leave as result of paycuts.......

I got told the same after 2nd selection day, in the holding pool nothing until summer 2011! :ugh::ugh:
I need a job have been applying for everything. I've got 430hrs on the 737 (which is useless!!):mad:

Did you apply for the 737? I applied for the DHC and still have no answer to any mail. Very strange. Last information I had was an offer letter and an information when the course should start. Unfortunately I was not able to start the course and now nothing happens.

Very strange I guess....

Hi Jetset,

I am starting to worry when I look through your posts that you belong to that company you are almost advertising here on pretty much all of your posts. Second I have had a look on the website which got an email address registered in the UK and a phone number registered in Belgium. When I see these things alarm bells ring. Hope I am wrong!

Singing from the same hymn sheet as capt ali from meccti ?

Another ban methinks :=

Found this new entry on Pilot Jobs network - Air Baltic jobs, payscales and entry requirements. - says all F/O courses cancelled for next year. If this is true, how come they are still advertising for Pilots on their site etc. Any comments anyone? Or maybe a misspelling of whoever wrote this, perhaps it should be ´´all F/O courses postponed until next year´´ - or do you have any comments guys here?

The website says the courses are postponed and not cancelled. It means no first officer course until 2011.

strange because in their website the recruitment is in process, like they are very short on pilots......very strange!

Think you can safely assume "until" rather than "for" unless their business has an unexpected really bad downturn.
Many Scandinavian F/O, a large percentage of whom wished to go to Norwegian, Emirates etc (I told them to read the Emirates threads first, they think it is all rosy :hmm: ) even before the threat of 75% salary came into the equation, should make some room for you guys .
Unless they are all useless (believe me they are not! ) and don't find other opportunities I think there will be a fair turnover of staff and plenty of demand for new blood around Springtime, but I doubt anything before. Lot of new guys recruited on Q400 (some rated, some not as I understand) all they need is for Father Christmas to give an early gift of some airframes.
If you read the 33 pages or so on the Nordic Forum thread you will see that historically there has not been much communication with candidates until the very last moment (can you be here like. . . yesterday ? )
This is not due to any inherent rudeness on the part of the person concerned, merely that being kept in the picture is not what she receives, and therefore neither can she do this for you.
"Hurry up & wait" / "Wait then hurry up" is how it is.

Last time I had access to company internet before it was cut off it was suggested that 110? 125? pilots had accepted the 75% deal, which I found quite astonishing.

It seems that this resulted in an "amelioration" of the pain and only F/O's would now be put on the 75% deal across all fleets? who knows.

So, if 737 F/O's are only working 75% and of course 3 aircraft were returned to leesor at end of Oct, ¡t seems that 737 F/O's will have a restful winter , and certainly no new ones required just for moment, unless the exodus really becomes a flood.
Out of there now guys, so for more up to date info, better ask someone who is still in the place.

Does anyone know if they're recruiting low timers? I applied quite a while back with less than 200TT but haven't heard from them since.

Unlikely there will be any recruitment as baltic are over crewed, whether low time or other. Delivery of remaining Dash aircraft still not yet, and no sign in the future despite company email saying the aircraft would be in Latvia in November. I am looking for other jobs now, as are many other 737 crew. Rumours of some left already. Just the start......

All change again. What fu*$ing joke! :ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh:

777timebandit,
what do you mean?

Rumour has it (and this a Rumour network) that there is a crew shortage now because the Q400s have been delayed (rumour for why this is hasn't arrived here yet!). So apparently all the contractors have been extended for the foreseeable! Hurry up and wait to change!

This rumour comes from a mate who is on contract at Air Baltic.

Er no. . . with one exception all terminated at end of Oct, but the crew shortages could be correct, as I believe Q400 are arriving on eve of 24th Dec commanded by a guy in a big red coat, no doubt finished in a colour scheme reminiscent of Norwegian, and sporting antlers.

Maybe "foreseeable" means "maybe tomorrow" in Latvian!

Crews who have been taken off the old types and retrained onto the new types, thus no longer current and valid on the old type. I think. I'm sorry if I have caused a bit of confusion, but I am passing on news that was passed to me, and which I believe to be at least reasonably accurate. It is, as I said originally, rumour, ie news which has not been crosschecked and verified.

According to info posted yesterday on ppjn.com the new Q400s will come mid Jan, and all pilots now on full salary. Hopefully what was meant, was that the proposed , but not yet implemented, 75% salary is cancelled.
Have no independant corroboration of that however.

new Q400s will come mid Jan, and all pilots now on full salary

what about the newly recruited pilots on paid/unpaid leave, any news on that?

An ex colleague confirmed to me that Boeing 737 pilots (sorry don't know about Q400 newly trained or otherwise) are staying on 100% salary as they are working a lot more than anticipated due to non-arrival of the 5 new Q400's till Feb, they have been told.
Waiting the call to go back ? ? :hmm: well I can always be optimistic :rolleyes:

A rather more gloomy prognosis posted now on ppjn.com.

Of course it is an anonymous site too, and anyone can post it as they feel it. Perhaps someone still in airB can confirm if the negative tone of the last entry in ppjn is justified or exaggerated.

He is relatively happy, as he just saw his 75% pay proposal cancelled, for how long I guess is the question. Nobody at the coal face seems able to fathom the big picture though.
There is of course a lot of resentment from many full time employees, as they didnt appreciate the way the possible pay cut was handled, and they can see how much may have been spent on wet leases all Summer due to the late Q400s. Perhaps not totally unjustifiably, there is a feeling that the paycut they thought they would suffer was due to bad planning, and now having to finance the new ships.
For sure one of the negative ones contributed the last info on ppjn, we will find out in the fullness of time how rosy, or otherwise, things are. Personally hope it turns out well, and all those involved in running and financing the company can pull in the same direction. It would be a shame to lose the momentum they managed to find during the darkest period of Latvias finances.

PPJN not far from truth, and resentment is rising with all the changes, and cancelled changes. More IF Q400 come not WHEN! New fleet introduction has been stupidly done, and is taking AB to its limit. Must be doubled crewed on the Q400 at least from comments in crew room recently, many crew not happy.
The desert is pulling many applications......

Not strictly terms and endearments, but if the story of Norwegian expanding into Helsinki is true, airB are letting go to a great opportunity for expansion, which seems particularly silly given their already prolific presence in the Finnish market.

Selection passed: taking up the hold until further notice. Happy with that :ok:

Possibly in response to Norwegians recent ad for pilots.
Most RHS on this fleet are Scandwegian, and most harbour some desire to work for Rudi the Red Nose, so, anticipation of losing potentially a few bods between now and Spring I would imagine.
Or perhaps just anticipating the empty RHS 's on the 737's if the Q400's ever arrive and many RHS737 bec LHSQ400 ?
Having let 3 737's go at end of Oct, I doubt it is planned fleet expansion, although vested interest would make me very pleased to hear otherwise :ok:

airBaltic Completes Financing for Bombardier Q400 NextGen Aircraft

Published: 17:53 02.12.2010.
December 2, 2010


The following is a press release from airBaltic:

Riga. Yesterday the Latvian national airline airBaltic finalised financing for all of its Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft, and will receive the remaining 5 of the total 8 ordered aircraft in the coming weeks.


Bertolt Flick, President and CEO of airBaltic: “Completing financing for the Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft was a large transaction. These new, fuel-efficient, and state-of-the-art aircraft will allow airBaltic to maintain low unit costs. This is important in an environment, where fuel costs are growing and customers in our markets are becoming increasingly price-sensitive.”


The 8 Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft have been purchased by Nordic Aviation Capital AS (NAC) and will be leased to airBaltic. The value of the aircraft at list prices is 212 million USD.


Three of the aircraft purchased by NAC had been previously owned by airBaltic (value at list prices 79,5 million USD).


NAC is the largest provider of turboprop aircraft leasing in the world. The company provides aircraft to well-known carriers such as Lufthansa, American Airlines, US Airways, SAS, Flybe, TACA and other major regional carriers. Nordic Aviation Capital’s current fleet of over 130 aircraft includes, ATR 42, ATR 72, Bombardier Dash 8, Boeing 737, MD 83, CRJ 200, Fokker 50 and Saab 2000 aircraft.

LETA

How often & how much you fill it depends on how quick it is leaking (or perceived as being likely to leak)

Interesting, so not only did they want a finance/leasing company to buy the remaining 5 Q400's (as opposed to the Latvian Govt), they also wanted the 79.5$million in the pocket too.

Hmnn :hmm:

It was once suggested to me that much of Herr Flicks money was from Russian sources, and that the new govt was less "Russian friendly," hence the recent "turbulence".

If this is indeed the case, the shares shebang sounds a bit like just shuffling money around/trying to put it offshore.

How it will affect the future ? if I could answer that I wouldn't be wasting my time here :rolleyes:

Does anyone know about the Pilot Stand by pool, now that airBatlic is receiving new Q400's?

Best wishes for 2011 ;)

Interview Q's
 

Does anybody have any feedback on the AirBaltic interview?
type of questions etc

The 33 page thread in the Nordic Forum has some info on the selection procedure. :ok:

Interview
 

@188contrails, as captplaystation wrote, you will find in the nordic forum a thread called Air Baltic.. all you need to now is there about the interviews and more.. I my self posted good info about the selection/interview process. Just read through it.

http://www.pprune.org/nordic-forum/2...ir-baltic.html

Good luck! :)

pool
 

cheche, i am supposed to be in it but have not heard anything more in the last 6 months, also t/rd