Yes, it is true that large quantities of radioactive material are being transported. Captains who initially alerted the company that transporting radioactive material is prohibited, and subsequently refused to fly, were swiftly silenced. Shortly thereafter, the Operations Manual (OM) was amended to permit the transport of these hazardous materials. The base in Nigeria has been closed, all Airbus aircraft are being relocated to India, and the number of working days outside Europe has increased from 20 to 30. Namaste!

Did they make any measurements of how much radiation leaks to the cabin and cockpit? Does the crew need to wear a radiation meter that records daily radiation exposure?

If you get a Serbian passport, you will automatically become immune to malaria

Aahahhahaah yes, especially if you are serbian and close friend of the previous Lagos Base Captain ...:)

Shine Shine Bobo for all !

No announcement of Lagos base closing? Is this true for both fleets?

On radar24 I can only find 2 aircrafts operating in Nigeria, so probably he is right.

As the largest ACMI company in England, SLX has practically been pushed out, and for the coming year, the management has failed to secure even a single "project," as they call it. This leaves only Turkey and India on the table. I can't understand aviators who, despite everything mentioned, are still asking about salaries or how to join the company. Here, you will neither achieve financial prosperity nor gain a solid foundation for advancing your knowledge and building your future career. In any case, you'll end up crippled—either financially or professionally.

This bottom feeder mickeymouse company can only find 3rd world countries where to work.

They acquired Ascend Airways to re-enter UK market. They already finish paperwork to introducing 737 to the fleet. They are already hiring.

Any information from people that left this company within the 1st year of employment ? Are you really tied to them because of that "Contractual Penalty" of 10k€ for First Officers ?

The company is still deciding whether to implement the new contract.
For now, the new contract has supposedly been presented merely as an "offer" that pilots can choose to sign—or not. Smartlynx will evaluate the situation and determine whether to allow pilots to continue working under the old terms or to make the new contract (or "offer") mandatory.
If the latter happens, it would result in contract termination initiated by the employer.

How cleverly worded and orchestrated this is (irony intended).

When did SmartLynx acquire Ascend? First I have heard of that.

Do you mean Avia Solutions Group?

Yes, ASG.

How are they going to chase you? Via their subsidiary in dubai they use to employ pilots?
Any judge will laugh at their face.

Walk away and dont worry, they won’t do jack, they are just trying to scare you

Sure I agree, BUT what about references, no accident/incident report, logbook stamps and what happens if the new airline you are going to asks for a referee from your previous company?

About this advice: this is the best way to get rejected: “my previous employer was run by crooks, so I just left… but I will behave completely differently here.” Unfortunately: you signed the contract, now you have to live with the consequences. Imagine there are 20 applicants for a job: most can provide references, but you are unable… Who is going to be hired.

In times where the employer has advantage - I agree. But this isn't that time currently. Some companies like to act as if they have a huge talent pool from which to pick - but they do not currently especially the 'bottom feeders'. If your employer (seventhreedriver) was run by crooks then you would have joined most likely without knowing the full facts and what things may really be like once inside? so you cannot really be blamed for signing a contract and then leaving if things are hidden afterwards and you could of had no knowledge? Your behaviour (leaving) here would be one of abandoning a sinking ship and id say you would feel aggrieved in having to pay anything back if things were hidden from you yes?. You signed the contract and normally yes - live with the consequences - but in some small instances there are clown outfits with people that make out at recruitment time as to how great things are and you start with them - and they turn out to be the opposite or break contractual agreement or maybe skew things in the contract to suit themselves. Every good airline and recruiter knows the bad employers and if your not a person who leaves all the time from these companies (your previous employment history will reveal this most surely) then I think that most will see past this issue and especially in the current market where they are unlikely to see 20+ candidates of suitable quality. Most European countries are legally obliged to provide a reference anyway I think and "benevolently worded".

I get your point. Anyone starting with SLX already has a disadvantage (I do not wish to offend anyone, but unfortunately I will: as a recruiter, my first question is: how did you “only” end up in SLX?…) 320 TR pilots are available for decent employers from EU LCCs. As a candidate, you would need to get ahead of these pilots. Hard, if you are considered “problematic”. When you are on a job interview, all we care about is: 1: will you crash our planes. 2: how are you as a person to work with. No one cares about your personal issues with your previous management. It doesn’t matter, what or who is legally right: all that will be in a recruiter’s mind is: will this guy just stand up and leave if something doesn’t go according to his/her liking (just like before).

About the reference letter: saying that he was working here from/to, but did not honor the notice period would be just the truth - I do not believe it is illegal. Training bonds on the other hand should not be part of an employment contract but a separate document.

Finally, never assume that you will never meet the pilots again who you pissed off…

I think that even if you are very correct with SLX and give them the required 45 days of notice and pay up the 4000 euro penalty for leaving (for capt), I think that they still would get angry because you are leaving them and therefore not give you any references or documents.

I have had this experience with other airlines. One airline simply did not care to give me my papers and the other one did not want to give it to me just for revenge and to make my life difficult because I decided to leave them. How would you handle this kind of situation? Lawyer? report them to EASA?

Given that background employment checks are such an integral part of further airline employment, I would say failure to certify at least employment dates and absence of dues/equipment/etc owing (usually all that is needed), litigation would stand a high chance of success, with high potential damages; under false reference rules. That said, assuming you're not a Latvian national; trans-national litigation is always going to be a headache.

This is only applicable in USA not in the rest of the world.

Don’t work for these kind of companies in the first place. 👍🏻

Easy to say « do not work there » when this is the only company giving you the opportunity to enter the pilot market and give you a contract… everybody knows that without some hours on a CS25 aircraft 95% of the airlines will not even bother answering to your application, even more if you have an atypic profile.

So yes SmartLynx has many bad points, but most of the people use it as an hour building airline and for that purpose thank god they exist and don’t ask 500h on Type to apply. Thanks to this, pilots can join the pilot market and be more credible to legacy airlines. The only problem is are they really going to sue you if you don’t pay their contractual penalty when you want to leave.

Many left without paying, noone will sue you, at the worst they wont give you your reference letter, hours certificate or whatever you ask them, they will simply ghost you and that's it..they are just a bunch of bottom feeder scumbags that can only prosper in pockets of legislative grey areas where no real contracts, securities and T&Cs are applied.

I completely agree with @TheEdge.
You won't gain anything, but it's important to understand that you won't lose anything either. Simply having worked at Smartlynx is reason enough for brokers, HR, or assessment panels to scrutinize you and your performance closely.
Been there, done that, seen it all.

Not that advance. They hired in the past a captain who is not actually a captain. They were not doing any SIM check until recently so god know who they hire. Their background check or so must be joke. They hire many pilots who left their previous companies for various reasons, disciplinary issues, CRM issues or court cases due to contractual disagreements. So this must shed a light. You can see a pilot in this company who change 7-8 company in 13-14 years. At the end bottom of the pyramid.

Many airlines offer you only contract for 1-2 years max 3 years and some contracts are just for the summer.. To have 7-8 airlines in 13-14 years in your C.V is kind of normal when you are working as contract pilot.

Smartlynx now orders all pilots to sign the new contract by 16 Dec. No comment on what will happen if this is not signed, other than they confirm they will refuse to pay bonus in the following year. As the company is now massively over-crewed they will use any means to get people to leave. 737 jobs are about, we have other options. I guess Arbus the same, but 15-20 Airbus with no work in 3 months time.

What's in the new contract?
Do they pay social prestations ?

The claim that the company has a surplus of crew is a misguided mantra. Most pilots have chosen to take unpaid leave during the winter months—either to spend time with their families over the holidays or to avoid flying in Turkey's poor weather conditions for a laughably low salary.
When summer comes, things will return to the usual state of affairs.
The company's mindset seems to mirror yours: planning only for the short term.
If you're looking for pilots for the summer season, you need to start recruiting in the winter—not in April, when it's already too late.

I don't understand. If they have a surplus of pilots as you say, why are they then hiring more pilots. I know personally that they have 2 classes for the A320 starting in January and February.

Probably because they don't know how many pilots will leave during winter.
​

This is not a kind reminder but a fearful plea from management, spiced up with a hint of threats and sprinkled with false claims about a "large number of pilots signing the new contract." In just two days, 12 bus drivers have resigned, and the company is now assessing the damage that could result if this trend continues:

"Dear Pilots,

We understand your concerns regarding the recent contract changes and particularly limit for partially covered days (illness/ unfit/ fatigue/ special occasion leave). We want to explain the changes and reasoning behind them in more detail.

First, we must emphasize that safety has been and will remain our top priority and will never compromise that. Second – we want to make it clear that our aim is not to limit the option of reporting fatigue or unfit condition, but to work on the long-term goal – to create working conditions, where pilot fatigue is not common at all.

The changes in the contract are carefully made based on the data we have analyzed over the last two years as well as industry benchmarks.

As per the new contract, section of “Other coverage”:

The company will:

cover in total the first 10 days of illness/unfit/fatigue/special occasion leave at 50% of the set fees. (already more beneficial to pilots than in similar airlines in the industry)
cover severe illness cases that occur on operational base while performing duties on behalf of the Client (such as covid, monkey pox, hajj flu etc.) until travel to NIA is arranged.
work closely with pilots to ensure improved roster planning and communicate more effectively to ensure pilots proactively inform the company in case there is a risk of fatigue – in advance.
Our aim is not to reduce fatigue reporting, but to reduce the probability of fatigue as such.

The company will not:

Compromise the safety and change safety policies – safety first, always.
Limit the days you can report fatigue/ unfit/ illness.
Based on the number of fatigue/illness/unfit reports within the last two years, we are confident that the newly set limit will have minimal to no effect on most of the pilots, and moreover, we are committed to review each case individually.

As the company evolves, we also periodically reconsider the contracts and see how we can collectively improve, and we will continue to do so.
The new terms and conditions are the best we can offer you in the current market!"

Well, there is a plethora of South American and Ukranian desperados that are available to replace them.
As I said before, SLX has start dates for January and February.

Ukrainian pilots are currently flying with Maltese license validations while awaiting the completion of the necessary exams to obtain their EASA licenses. At present, they are the backbone of the company, willingly taking on tasks that others would never agree to.
Until they acquire their EASA licenses...

As for the contract situation, my opinion is that the company will gradually replace the non-compliant individuals (those who have not signed the new contract), one by one, as new pilots complete their line checks and sign the new, less favorable contract themselves.

Anyone knows which hotel chain they are using in Nigeria and India?

I think it’s best for you to forget about SLX. Just as the A330 sector has been shut down, they are now phasing out the B737 as well.
The new management is incapable of securing work for the aircraft.
The A320 is surviving solely because of operations in India.
If that work were to end tomorrow, the entire company would collapse.

Lets hope it will happen soon.

Like TheEdge has said best to just avoid and leave this company alone to succumb to natural selection and let it go. Its in pain and if it was an animal you'd put it to sleep as the kindest thing to do.

Stay away from these post Soviet bandits of the Baltics