Just heard from my JAL buddy that after some 50 years of using foreign crews (mostly American but also Canadian, Australian, etc.) they will no longer be doing that... Sounds like all those crews will now be permanently laid off...
I was informed by a US captain at JAL that JAL is shutting down Jalways as of April 1, 2009. Which would mean the elimination of all foreign national jobs at IASCO, HACS and WASINC contracted out to JAL. Jalways operates a large share of the flights from NRT to HNL. Does this mean that JAL is gong to terminate all of the most popular flights in the JAL system? Or will they eliminate the contract companies and offer employment directly to the contract pilots currently employed by a contract?
I hope it is the latter , that would be a huge savings to JAL.....not having to pay the contract companies. It would be hard to believe that JAL is eliminating, or has enough Japanese pilots to fly the routes currently being flown by the contract pilots. I flew for JAL for 10 years and I find it hard to believe that the company can fly all of their routes without their foreign national pilots.
I know that JAL is really struggling financially. I could see them eliminating other routes and moving mainline crews to HNL and other mainline routes. They've also been using expats on the EMB out of Nagoya. These crews affected, too?
Here's the industry Intel our (IPA) union put out about it. My friend works there on a WASINC contract and he said no one knows if they’ll get any severance pay, etc...
JAL Downsizes, Terminates Contracts With Pilot Agencies
(Letter to JAL Pilots, March 3)
Yesterday, JAL’s Board of Directors voted to terminate the master leasing contracts with WASINC, HACS, and IASCO effective July 1, 2009.
According to a letter to pilots from the company, this decision came as a result of the severe impact of the worldwide economic crisis. The three agencies mentioned are contracting companies which provide contract pilots for JAL. There is no word yet on how many pilots will lose their jobs as a result of the downsizing fair amount of western pilots who fly for JAL.
I was informed by a US captain at JAL that JAL is shutting down Jalways as of April 1, 2009. Which would mean the elimination of all foreign national jobs at IASCO, HACS and WASINC contracted out to JAL. Jalways operates a large share of the flights from NRT to HNL. Does this mean that JAL is gong to terminate all of the most popular flights in the JAL system? Or will they eliminate the contract companies and offer employment directly to the contract pilots currently employed by a contract?
I hope it is the latter , that would be a huge savings to JAL.....not having to pay the contract companies. It would be hard to believe that JAL is eliminating, or has enough Japanese pilots to fly the routes currently being flown by the contract pilots. I flew for JAL for 10 years and I find it hard to believe that the company can fly all of their routes without their foreign national pilots.
Unfortunately, it looks like they’ll be cutting down on many flights and what’s left will be flown by Japanese pilots only, no more foreigners flying for JAL… In this economy you can’t really blame them for protecting their own…
I know that JAL is really struggling financially. I could see them eliminating other routes and moving mainline crews to HNL and other mainline routes. They've also been using expats on the EMB out of Nagoya. These crews affected, too?
Were the expats already up and running on the J-AIR contract? I thought the local pilots had yet to hand over the shiny new planes. The EMBs had only been flying a month or so, right?
Well, it can't happen because not one single US airline has a separate unit where they exclusively hire foreign pilots... You must be a US citizen (or a legal permanent resident) to get hired at any US based airline. JAL on the other hand has been hiring foreign nationals, people with no connections to Japan, for years...
Were the expats already up and running on the J-AIR contract? I thought the local pilots had yet to hand over the shiny new planes. The EMBs had only been flying a month or so, right?
No, all expats for J-Air are still in training. They've been told (as of today) that their contract and their job is still in tact and training continues. J-Air actually contracted with Embraer to supply 30 captains with the airplanes, so it appears to be a package deal.
This is really sad news. I have a friend who has been there 15 years at least. At least there is some demand for 747 drivers. I think that they had been checked out on the -400, hadn't they?
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