Originally Posted by
Burton78
I agree his points are fairly level headed but, I don't see anyone more invested in speaking in behalf of NAI than him. Maybe one day he can enlighten us all on who he works for and demonstrate how it caused upward pressure on his pilot wages. I'd just like to hear his full story and why he talks about little other than NAI.
If you publicly post who you work for, then I will do the same.
As for enlightening you about how it put upward pressure on wages I have stated it many times. But here it goes again:
Over the past five years Norwegian (all of Norwegian - NAS, NAI, NAN and NUK) has grown significantly at the same time as more European airlines have begun to hire. Many of the smaller airlines and other LCCs have begun to lose pilots to the Norwegian group. As a result many of them have had to improve the salaries and working conditions in order to attract and retain pilots. My wife's airline (she works in crew planning) recently raised wages approximately 8% across the board and instituted a fixed roster pattern in an effort to retain pilots who have been leaving for Norwegian. Over the past year I have worked two contract jobs in Europe and have seen the terms and conditions increase. For my most recent contract I was asked in the interview if I had interest in returning to China or if I had looked at the Norwegian long haul operation (I am an Airbus guy but Norwegian has been known to occasionally accept Airbus time for the 787 operation). They have had pilots leave for both, had just increased their contract offering, and wanted to know if that was something I was considering.
The European market is very different than the U.S. market, the legacy airlines tend to be very protective of their nationalities and often practice blatant age discrimination - Lufthansa and Austrian have very strict age requirements. If you are a 45 year old experienced pilot from Ireland, you have ZERO chance of getting a job with most legacy airlines in Europe and your options at home are limited to Ryanair, an occasional cadet opening with Aer Lingus, and ....Norwegian. If you are a 45 year old experienced pilot from Ohio, you have a very good shot at American, Delta or United. It is just a very different environment over here and clearly, from many of the statements made on here, many of you fail to comprehend that. The options for a 45 year old experienced pilot in Europe are just not the same as they are in the States. And when compared to what is available for an experienced pilot in their 40s or 50s, Norwegian is actually a pretty decent option overall. It is certainly a lot better than Germania, or Small Planet, or Primera, HiFly, Avion Express, Jet Time, WizzAir or any of the other ACMI or ULCCs out there. And without question it is far better than the Lufthansa alter-ego Eurowings.