Core contracts apply for Sweden, Noway, and Denmark only. It was agreed that permanent contracts would be offered in the UK and Spain in wholly owned affiliates such as Norwegian UK,Norwegian Spain or something to that effect.

The litmus test will be in HEL base when the first of these permanent contracts will be offered in March/April time.

Anything to be said for Monarch? Recruitment drives are typically well subscribed and hear that most there are pretty happy given the current state of the industry in the UK. Unless they aren't considered low cost...

Monarch are by far the best in terms of management, but EZY take some beating as an all rounder; particularly for cadets like me :)

A friend of mine worked for EJ as a contractor and had settled into his UK base when he was moved abroad. A few months later he got a move back to the UK....at the other end of the country!

Anyway, he escaped to Monarch and hasn't looked back. Permanent contract etc and he's now treated as an employee rather than as a resource to be sent away at a moments notice.

In terms of lifestyle he would have stayed at EJ had he been offered a permanent contract as he liked the base he was at. There will be, I'm sure, be another cadet along to fill his place.

Monarch
 

Whilst MON may be competing with the lo-co crowd, their t&cs plus management/employee relationship demonstrates the opposite to the lo-co race to the bottom. MON would be one of the best employers in the UK IMHO. Time to command may be lengthy, however I doubt anyone would be joining MON with the objective of achieving a quick command

EZY for me, LHS at my home base, currently done 690 hours during the rolling 12 months and never worry about the threat of redundancy hanging over my head. Would be a brave move for me to leave that.

Time to command in Monarch is down at 4yrs, for some of this years upgrades.
With the planned expansion, it will be this or lower for at least the next 5 to 10 yrs.

I had to wait 8yrs, so who knows.

BBK - Monarch are a quality outfit in terms of t's and c's. Whether they can stand the long term heat in the kitchen alongside easyJet and Ryanair is open to debate. There is no doubt a bunch of easyJet guys were treated badly and left to go to Monarch. If they enjoy it then that is great - we all want people to have good and fulfilling careers. The problems they experienced, however, are to a large extent a thing of the past. The easyJet New Entrant Contract is there for everyone to see now - a year on probation effectively on 'pay per flying hour' and a temporary contract. Then it is £38k and nothing else for year two but on a permanent contract. After that it is £44k + sector pay for two years then finally £55k + sector pay. If that is not what you want then do not come to easyJet - no one can say they were not warned. Also, Monarch is a tiny airline in comparison with easyJet and therefore the hassle factor will always be there. We have around 17 bases across Europe and that means sometimes you have to work there - some see that as a selling point, but again if that is not what you want then do not come here! Most people (other than Trainers working in the sim away from home) do not do more than a couple of nightstops a month (I probably do 5 nightstops a year). Time to command is really hard to predict in any airline. If it is 4 years at Monarch then that is great. It is probably around that at easyJet now, but I can only see than increasing. We all know that getting a command is being in the right place at the right time - that is almost invariably impossible to predict when you join an airline. EasyJet has been fantastic for me, but I recognise that different people have had different experiences. I like the variety of destinations (100+ destinations from Gatwick), flying new aircraft, a predictable roster pattern, good maintenance and a great safety culture. The downside is that you will work seriously hard and over many years that definitely takes its toll. Overall, there is nowhere else I would rather be right now, but that is only one view.

This may not be the best forum to ask this but i have noticed as i went through the Low cost carrier list and their fleets most of them operate a single fleet (understandable ) and Airbus A320-200s . My question is - is there an economic advantage of using the Airbus over the 737 ? recently especially in southeast asia its raining a320 orders . Does the A320 offer some advantages to low cost carriers ?

SR,

Yes, the Airbus is a MUCH better aircraft.........:E:

Boeing is cheaper about maintenance but not in consumption.
Airbus is generally a bit more expensive in maintenance but cheaper about consumption.
But let's face it. Boeing (such as 737) are archaic a/c.
Airbus is now and the futur. It's a VERY easy plane to fly. (and more confortable).
If one day pilotless a/c will be in service, then, I bet Airbus will do it in first.

I flew both, personnally i prefer airbus. Not for flying, but for the CONFORT.
Nowadays, it's LCC in majority, so you fly more so you need confort.

So A320 after sale maintenance is expensive but its more fuel efficient . . .

The A320 also happens to be comparatively expensive to buy.

As far as technology goes i understand that the fly-by-wireyness is all the rage these days but as a pilot i have to say it makes little difference.

Take off , set the Autopilot , both have great Fmcs and will maintain ANP of less than 1NM , get to the destination and do a manual landing ( or an autoland if you're lazy :E).

Also I think there are some sale/leaseback advantages to the a320s ,do the buses get a better deal while leasing back ? I know some LCCs make a chunk of their profits through sale / leasebacks .

Last time I checked the world biggest loco, and Europes biggest loco didn't use Airbus.

Way I have always heard from the engineering bods is that the Bus doesn't age very gracefully, and when it goes tech it goes seriously tech. . . but that is recounted with a bit of "Boeing Bias" on my part.


truckflyer, the current contract offered by ARPI is considerably better than offered by say Brookfield to pimp yourself to Ryanair, but it falls short of a "core contract " (IE the permanent employed by Norwegian contract ) in many respects.

dick byrne, don't know what I said to ruffle your feathers, I described it as it is, in that it will be "some sort" of permanent contract which will be offered after 2 years (if not extended as in the case of HEL base to 3 years ) how good or not it turns out to be ? well we will see come March. I was merely pointing out that what you claimed (below) in post # 15 was not entirely accurate.

And let's be fair a core contract in Norwegian( which is what's on offer if you want it after 2 years) is pretty good!


As I have a "core contract" I should be well aware of what is /may be missing with the forthcoming offers.

GermanWings!!!

And ? some numbers €/Off Days etc to help the audience decide.

I am guessing fluent German is a must, which will put off many of us "islanders" who frequent here . ;)

Having survived 3 different CEO's in my time there, I would still say that EZY are the best. Super training that will hold you in great stead throughout your future flying career, by and large new planes to fly and nice people working there make for an enjoyable and professional day out. Even better for the BAYE and SAYE subscribers.

But best of all, you'll get your hours the quickest so you can leave the quickest if something far more relaxing is what you're really after. I didn't get into aviation for high speed 25-30 minute turnarounds and low speed .72 in the airways.

If EZY offer you the chance then take it. Long term, you might actually like it but God knows what that sort of schedule will do to you by retirement age.

Low Cost Carriers…who is the best ?
 

Schedule hard in EZY?
In 8 years never done more than 650h/yr. No more than 12 days flying a month normally.
Having said that: you have to choose your base carefully! Avoid the big bases and you'll be fine!

Correct me if I am wrong but Germanwings has very few 'core' pilots left. Most are flying under the KTV (i.e. Lufthansa pilots) under a slightly modified collective labour agreement whilst maintaining LH mainline seniority.

Jet2
 

If you are commuting from the UK to Ireland, Would you get home just as much with Jet2 as you would with FR/EZY for example?

PIOSEE

Jet2 run a random roster so planning commutes is difficult, late finish prior to days off or leave, and the earliest possible start after days off is the norm.