Quote:
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.
Originally Posted by NEDude
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.
SWA. Your turn. Ok, thanks for the explanation. I understand where you're coming from in regard to your limited options of carriers to work for as a middle aged pilot in Europe and I'm sorry to hear that. You presented a laundry list of carriers that are undesirable places to work for in Europe all the while mentioning that we have great options to chose from here in the states. I think what you are failing to comprehend is that most pilots in the states DON'T want to follow in Europe's footsteps in creating such a landscape where Norwegian "looks pretty decent" because quite frankly, from our perspective, it doesn't at all. Many view NAI as the proverbial camel's nose in that regard. If you take a gander at the the airline profile sections on this site of the biggest carriers here (that are all massively hiring btw), you can clearly see that we don't need NAI to help bring upward pressure on pilot wages.
I may have missed your response, but why is SAS planning to launch an airline in Ireland?