25 years of continuous permanent employment, pension contributions, pay increment, staff travel, London base...... Yes command prospects a huge let down, but for those applying in 2012, the rest is hard to come by anywhere else.

"25 yrs of permanent employment"
:\:sad:
Unless you were one of the unlucky ones in 2008 eh?

Spider Man
 

You say "25 years of continuous permanent employment"....

Did you not read the previous bit about 2 rounds of redundancies in the last 8 years?

I can tell you, from bitter experience, that it is a fortunate FO in Virgin who has even 5 years of "continuous permanent employment" at Virgin, before a redundancy scare of some kind.

All well and good if an airline expands, but if it is relatively stagnant then you are pretty much at risk for a long, long time.

I agree. Better avoided if you have other options - or are a current Captain.

No, it was posted as I typed. Yes it does sound far from ideal, but for any experienced Boeing pilots seeking permanent employment in the south east right now, its probably the only option on the table. Everything else is Airbus, short term contracting or overseas.

How did it ever get to the point where we have to regard being employed by Virgin as an 'only if you are desperate' option!:{

Macdo,

Not sure anyone said "only if you're desperate" (apologies if I missed it).

It is more an "only if it is a step up for you" kind of job nowadays.

I personally wouldn't dream of giving up a Command in order to sit near the bottom of the VAA seniority list in this day and age.

Sorry, Narrow Runway, I wasn't having a pop at you, more lamenting the state of affairs in our industry where we no longer have any 'employer of choice'. VS, insecure, BA, lamentable new T&C's, TCX, effectively bankrupt,TOM, the axe could fall anytime, EZY, worked til you drop, JSY, trapped in propland forever, RYR, no I can't be bothered to go on. At least 15 years ago, there was the aspiration to work for an airline where you would be well looked after for your toil, VS was one of those. Even with a command and seniority, you are not safe as the demotions at TCX showed this year.
Anyway, let us hope that the world economy picks up soon for all our sakes.:ok:

You left Jet2 off your list there.

A bigger fleet than Monarch or Thomas Cook, it recruits & expands every year, is in profit every year and promotes on ability rather than seniority.

Or am I missing something?

*cough* SEP *cough*

Sorry mate, you were saying?

Kisses ;)

It is probably a newer plane than most of Jet2's fleet and he gets to go upside down...

Like your whining.....

(sorry, it was wide open!)


(crossed posts) - it probably is. It's also younger than most airline fleets out there. While I'm petulantly stamping my feet I'd point out that BA's 73 fleet has a similar average age to Jet2's so we'll have a little less of your ageist,northist chat thank you. :ok:

But saying that I hope to be joining Stoppers pretty soon;)

Announced in the Times today that virgin are looking at launching short haul routes from Heathrow come spring 2013. No mention of a/c type? Maybe just another one of Bransons announcements for the sake of publicity but could be a boost to the numbers they're looking to recruit if it's turns out to be for real

Virgin are looking to go back to Moscow amongst other things

So people with 3000+ hours and a stable job are willing to join a short haul virgin?!?! You're mental if you do.

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/183/Virgin...%20%202005.pdf

Unless this changes, virgin might find it difficult to operate flights to Moscow

jlider pilot

thats the whole point, now bmi have been integrated into BA there is now the opportunity for VS to operate the Moscow service alongside BA...

Blackandbrown - do you have a positive word to say about anything? What if a UK shorthaul job suited someone who is out of the UK keen on coming back to be based near their family. Does that make them 'mental'?

Its interesting to note that when the last application process opened up Virgin had over 500 pilots applying for the hold pool in the space of a week, so some guys can slag Virgin off as much as they like but the bottom line is people still want to work here!!

I'm not saying Virgin is great at the moment as there are numerous issues but overall you could do a dam site worse..

Each to there own at the end of the day and whats right for one person is wrong to another!!

Just got a "hang on, we're swamped with applications, we'll get back to you soon" email from VS.
Pleasantly surprised actually, thought they'd just ignored me because I didn't make the grade.