The relentless pursuit of profit and the reckless acceptance of extremely hazardous destinations, on one hand, and the assignment of inexperienced crews to demanding operations in Turkey, on the other, foreshadow tragic events. One such incident nearly occurred at Agri Airport about two weeks ago. By "inexperienced crews," I refer to captains who have not flown for extended periods or have limited experience outside the familiar confines of Central Europe, paired with young, inexperienced first officers who have only recently taken the right seat.

So what happened? What’s so “demanding and hazardous” with Agri airport?
You sound a bit to emotional

The Turkey base is shutting down. For now, the number of operational units is being reduced to a quarter or even a fifth, with the base scheduled to close entirely by summer.

Apparently, India isn’t thrilled with how SmartLynx is handling operations there either.

The company sent out an email announcing that aircraft are being grounded, but reassured everyone that “summer will be busy,” while conveniently refusing to disclose anything about these supposed “new projects” ahead of time.

Probably because there are no summer projects, forget about the UK Jet 2 sued them for breach of contract ~5million GBP settlement, TUI UK probably will do the same and certainly no interest in ever bringing them back. Maintenance is a joke. and the number of issues including Unstable approaches continued to land etc, doesn't paint a good picture for reputation. there is Plenty ACMOI demand out there, there is just no demand for Smartlynx... maybe a couple of German bases in the summer but 1 a/c each in 3 bases. hardly enough BLH to cover costs of crew and fleet. Expect more redundancies.

Make no mistake with the new email from the management UPL only ever happened when the fleet was being introduced and only the first month or two. LOW season stopped to exist and no pay reduction was ever applied until... this winter. Safety data will look better if you fly less, naturally. And being overcrewed because you have to ground 70% of your fleet during your PEAK season., doesnt mean you are improving pilot retention. That is what you call propaganda.
You are heading for bankruptcy. No matter how much lipstick you put on a pig, it's still a pig. Get out while you can plenty of other jobs out there. Client airlines with any sense should avoid SLX like the plague and shareholders should think very carefully about spending good money after bad. just my 0.02$

In just one day, 25 colleagues were laid off, mostly Airbus pilots and a few from the B737 fleet. I believe these were primarily those who refused to sign the new contracts.

In Turkey, only instructors will remain, handling regular daytime flights, while a few crews will be left to endure the grueling night shifts.

All other pilots are being placed on unpaid leave. The chief pilot couldn’t specify how long this would last but hinted that the summer will be filled with “exciting new projects”—though, of course, it’s not his place to reveal the company’s secrets (sarcasm intended).

Meanwhile, skilled pilots will be looking for new opportunities, leaving only those with no other options behind.
For now, everyone is keeping quiet—especially the Ukrainians and Latinos.

At the same time, the LinkedIn propaganda machine continues to present its “successes” to the aviation community:

"Last week, the SmartLynx team came together for the final CEO Update of 2024, a wrap-up on a year defined by resilience, achievements, and milestones.

Our CEO, Edvinas Demenius, shared the story of this year – a mix of challenges that tested us and successes that fueled our growth. 🙌 With exciting projects on the horizon and a shared vision for 2025, we’re ready to continue the climb.”

Thanks for the update. Its strange because I was scheduled to start OCC. Lets see if they are going to change that.

Well, if majority of Boeing fleet going into C checks and long term parking as planned then it's definitely an exciting new project for whomever they have to pay to do that. But it's certainly not good news for the pilots.:rolleyes: This goose is cooked. Basically if you're not in the "inner circle" of the CP (scandi/kurd) you're gonna be on UPL.

Finally this cancerous aviation chapter is going to be closed.
It was about time.

Strange post. You sound like the sort of pilot that would fit in well with the safety culture of Smartlynx. Many guys on here telling you how unsafe it is, but you still wanted an OCC!

No comms from either fleet manager or DFO, and the CEO started his annual presentation by cursing, and saying how many mistakes have been made. Perhaps if we paid TT their bill the AOG would not have been so high in SAW. Anyone who did not sign the new contract agreeing to 50% pay cut for calling in fatigued is being let go, certainly more to follow.

He wrote that Agri airport is a "extremely hazardous destination" and I asked for clarification, what happened and why is it dangerous because in my view Agri airport is more or less a "normal" airport. Jumping on me like that, saying that I would fit in such "safety culture" really shows how inmature and emotional you are.
If I would listen to all the "STAY AWAY from this airline" comments on PPrune, I would never find a pilot job.

I absolutely don't have any problem with a 50% cut on Fatigue off day. I have been in aviation for 20 years now, I never had to make a fatigue report so I don't care about it.
As long as the airline follows strictly EASA FCL flight time limitations, I am just fine with that.

Perfect meat for those criminals.

Geeezzzz hahaha

Never made a fatigue report in 20 years..:ugh: You are exactly what they want! Keep trying, maybe tell them you will pay 30k pay-to-fly for your Airbus rating.

Quite a feat although for 15 of those 20 years no one knew what on earth a fatigue report was.

spot on.
And in some countries to the east, they still don't know what that is 👍🏻 slavery is a must

I won’t bother explaining what’s so dangerous ("extremly dangerous" term wasn't used) about Agri airport because just a glance at its elevation (5400') and the MSA (14000') is more than enough. A quick look on areas where jamming/spoofing is a daily occurrence should suffice. I won’t even mention the other aspects because they need to be experienced to be believed (language barrier, inaccurate WX reports, etc.)...

I’d say you’ve never worked 3-5 nights in a row with minimal rest in between. And when I say "in a row", I mean landing in the morning and taking off the same evening, repeating the cycle for several consecutive nights.

I wish you all the best and hope you get the job at SLX.
I’d really love to hear your honest opinion after a few months on the job.

BTW, India is closing in April, and there is just one Bus in SAW.
SLX is cooked.

No worries, everyone is looking for another job. Unpaid leave doesn’t apply to instructors—regular captains and some first officers (the ones not essential for the right seat) have been "honored" with unpaid days off.

Soon, every instructor will be flying "their" aircraft—until they, too, leave.

The company (HR) isn’t responding to emails. Fleet managers aren’t either. Pilots are left completely in the dark. Given everything already discussed, it’s hard to accept this kind of treatment.

Then again, maybe some will find it convenient not to file a fatigue report or to fly for half their salary sitting over radioactive material. There are always people like that.

Free fall turns into a plunge with only one possible outcome:
DHL drops SmartLynx Airlines as cargo partner in Europe
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/dh...tner-in-europe

Extract from the article:

​​​​​​​Brace for impact.

​​​​​​​How do we say goodbye in Lithuanian ?

It is known that company will reduce its fleet on all types as a result of being unreliable ACMI partner. Freighters number will significantly reduced, also Airbus passenger fleet will shrink by few numbers. There are discussions to end Boeing ops as a result of increased leased cost. They will keep entire fleet up to 50-55 aircraft max.

Easiest way to say bye is: Iki 👋😄

Only 24 of their 58 aircraft did any revenue flying in February to date. It's basically IndiGo keeping them afloat. Two aircraft (an A321 and an A321F) were returned to the lessor this week.

Two A320s were ferried to the UK to be scrapped.

I am not surprised. No airline with good state of mind will take their aircraft’s. Anyway most of the fleet at the end of their lifespan.

Please, enlighten me. I'm ready to learn something new (if it's smart).

End of the 737 being announced tomorrow informed by CP via WA Fleet phase out end of April. Apologies to those affected by the poor management of what could have been a great gig.

To the management, this is what happens when you ignore good well intended advice and try to operate like a flying club. ACMI is nothing without good reputation and standing. Cut corners (maintenance etc) recruit anyone with pulse and licence and do minimum training, personal vendettas and internal politics between managers, revolving door in management/accountable positions for friends and favor rather than focussing on standards and the best qualified, well, You end up in coffin corner eventually. a last minute contract will not save it, because the system hasn’t changed. You will fail yet again.

Congratulations again…

SmartLynx management always were snakes. But the snakes did well post pandemic as many airlines reduced their fleet size and crew numbers. This is the ACMI business model in a nutshell, it exists to take advantage of the rest of the industry and its perils (delayed aircraft, engine problems etc). This day was always inevitable as airlines regained their previous capacity.

Good luck guys. If you're happy to pay your taxes correctly, there's still hundreds of Airbus and Boeing jobs out there.

How to start a day with a good news !!
Time is a Gentleman also for those bottom-feeders scammers.

SmartLynx will make an appearance on the Island, this time disguised as Ascent Airlines...

Do you mean ASCEND ? This one https://ascendairways.aero/ascend-ai...ing-737-max-8/ ?

Nothing new...

Correct. My mistake, but everything is pretty clear - who they (Ascend) are.

It isn't pretty clear to me, perhaps you could enlighten us with your vast knowledge from Turkey?

After letting go of most of their pilots and handing over at least six aircraft to other airlines, AJet has decided to extend the contract with SLX (wet lease agreement was optionally five years).
And now—surprise, surprise - SLX doesn't have enough pilots.

I'm one of these 737 pilots that SLX dismissed recently... Where does this information comes from?

Just an FYI: my friend, an A320 captain at Smartlynx, said that from July 1st he will be in the UAE. I don't know for how long. He waited approximately 2 months after returning from India.

Dumblynx cannot fly in EU, noone wants them, and many issues with Audit, thats why they only get subpar contracts.

Finally Dumblynx is falling down, big time, 240 Million debt, hopefully Aviasolutions will follow soon..

https://blacklist.aero/news/6911b0eb4e47f669ca812797