@Little
Welcome to Airwork.
It's good to see that there are still people working for Airlines that have decent terms and conditions. Wonderful to see - wish you well.
Unfortunately you are in an ever smaller minority.
Luchtvaart is altijd cyclisch geweest. Vanwege een paar tegenvallers duurt het dalletje mij ook veel te lang, maar als de geschiedenis zich herhaalt kunnen we het straks niet meer bijslepen met aannames en opleidingen.
Niet te zwart kijken hoor...............
It's very different this time. Take the time to research what is really going on with the Global Financial Crisis. The Mainstream media have done a very poor job of reporting on this.
Example:- Greece was
not bailed out - the money went to the banks that hold Greek debt (and were stupid enough to lend Greece money in the first place). Greek debt has now been transferred from these banks to the ECB (which means EU taxpayers are now on the hook).
Greece is just the tip of the iceberg.
Do some research on "Peak Oil" - the implications are shocking.
I personally believe the downward trend will continue. I suspect future events may accelerate the trend.
Het zijn 24 jaren (met veel plezier)
Ik heb bij meerdere werkgevers gewerkt, maar een echt inkomen alleen bij de KLM.
Dus tot zover heb je helemaal gelijk......................
Ik wordt alleen een beetje zenuwachtig van het feit dat je denkt dat als je captain bij de KLM bent dat je dus automatisch geen idee hebt van de huidige markt.
Toevallig heb je net de verkeerde te pakken. Ik ben bijna elke week in een simulator enthousiaste mannen aan het begeleiden die over een paar maanden/weken/dagen gaan solliciteren bij een maatschappij.
De recente ontwikkelingen op Martinair gebied deden vooral zeer omdat ik weet dat er een aantal mannen (m/v) op het punt stonden om eindelijk na een aantal jaar aan de beurt te zijn nu weer eventjes 67 plaatsen extra moeten wachten.
Ik geef rijkelijk toe dat het gros van de collega's niet ECHT weet hoe erg het op dit moment is.
With all due respect - unless you've actually been through it you have no idea.
For you these are abstract concepts at best - for a lot of us it's everyday reality.
I've just started the 27th year of my career and I fly A330/A340 all over the place for a small flag carrier.
I'm a graduate of the "Buffalo Airways School of Hard Knocks". Best education I've ever had.
However my career path has been very different than yours. Perhaps an idea to list a few of the "highlights".
- I'm currently working for my 5th Airline. My last Airline went Bankrupt. I've worked for 3 different companies in 16 months at one point in my career. There's a good chance I will have to move again at some point.
- A group of Pilots (myself included) being referred to as "Traitors" at a Pilots meeting. That's been the low point of my career so far.
- Landing at Schiphol on a Friday night to hear that the leases on the aircraft had been cancelled. I'd done the last commercial flight with this aircraft type for the company. Both aircraft repo'd on Tuesday.
- Attending a meeting after my Airline had been taken over by another Airline. The first words out of the mouth of the representative from this Airline: "If it wasn't for us you'd now be out of a job. We are going to give you contracts on our terms and conditions - it's take it or leave it".
- Going to the VNV to protect us from the people in the above paragraph - only to have them refuse to represent us. Most of us were associate members at the time.
- Spending my 40th Birthday updating my details on various employment websites and sending out CV's. I knew I'd be working overseas.
- Having a "colleague" steal allowance money that I had taken a great deal of effort to organise for my crew - leaving us with nothing. When I confronted him about it he blamed it all on the Airline.
- Becoming a contractor/Expat. I have a 3 month renewable contract. This year I had to tell my Airline that they could either give me the promised contract or my last day of employment would be March 14. This was after a lady from the HR department told me "this is the contract - you can accept or decline it". I would have walked - getting too old for this crap!
- I've spent 5 weeks in my own house so far this year - last year it was 4 weeks for the entire year.
- I've built up about 7 years of (real) pension in total so far - that's going to be a problem.
When I go back next week I'll be fighting with my Airline once again to get them to pay me what I am
contractually owed from the end of my last contract- lot's of fun!
Given the downward trend I'm sure others will be able to post even worse "highlights" in the coming years.