icegirl

And gender diversity in the trade.

donpizmeoff

RGS5526

I recall one MAN-LHR flight where the flight deck made an announcement to the effect that we would be leaving the ground "momentarily". It turned out that the person in question was Canadian.

Cap'n Benj

kt74

Ummm, many pilots have always wanted to work for BA; it's pretty much your dream job. Historically BA rarely had many direct entry pilot positions, so many would-be BA pilots had to cut their teeth somewhere else. ME3 offered generous tax-free packages to help crew their burgeoning fleets, and frankly it was a lot more glamorous than day trips from Stansted to secondary European airports... Then, ooops, Etihad lost $3.5 billion and therefore had to cut planes and cut pilots - one British pilot I know of traded Etihad 787s for Jet2 737s just to come home. Meanwhile many BA pilots are nearing retirement, so there's an increased need for recruitment. Hence Abu Dhabi would be a pretty smart place to go hunting for pilots right now. It's not rocket science.

DYKWIA

The ME3 carried on recruiting during the "crash" of 2008 (and beyond). The offer of a half decent wage (tax-free), free accommodation, free schooling for kids, car allowance etc. made a lot of Brits & Yanks (plus others) move over there. It was great - good weather, expat community etc., everyone's a winner.

10 years later, the US and European airlines are recruiting again. Now, everyone that moved over suddenly hates the place, and can't wait to get back to "civilisation". The poor souls hate working 90 hours a month (although it was fine when they moved over there).

No doubt they'll all miss the lifestyle and want to move back once the next downturn occurs.

rapidex

BA recently had a recruiting roadshow in Hong Kong. Who do you think that was aimed at. QF are poaching as many CX pilots as possible as payback for the kybosh being put on Jetstar Hong Kong.

it goes on all the time.

nancypants

simons1

With respect, I would Google the term offshoring.

Pascoe

Presumably also Doha is just, as well as all these other factors, quite a nice central hub for people to travel into for a roadshow. It makes logistical sense alongside the ME3 poaching angle....

Takiteasy

skipness1E

They're not offshoring, they're poaching qualified Emirates, Cathay and Etihad pilots. It's all over pprune, no suggestion it's anything more than standard going out to get the right people, who will be based in London as per the norm.

HIDDY

Although icegirl has got the wrong end of the stick on this, one only has to look at the Merchant Fleet to see that recruiting foreign crew to work on British registered ships or maybe that should be ex British registered deep sea ships is now the norm.
BA have taken steps to avoid such a thing happening although I certainly wouldn't rule it out in the future.

nancypants

nachosdelux

except the fact that the working condition have greatly deteriorated over the past 10 years. I have several friends that recently left Emirates for U.S. airlines. Emirates increased the max flight hours to 100. Then they said that hours out of the seat don't count (no other airline does this). So long-haul pilots are logging 130+ hours per month, which is 40-50% more than pilots at BA or AA or similar. They left because it was untenable.