I disagree. The probable net result once TFWP/FLVC is wound down to zero and proportional wet-lease is the norm will be a much longer SW permanent pilot seniority list with associated upgrades. Year round employment goes up as SW will be looking at a much larger permanent CDN staffed C-reg fleet. Given that TUI directly manages and controls a majority of the SW winter fleet and has a vested interest in maintaining the volume of flying being performed in Canada via the SW brand, I suspect that TUI will proactive in adapting to the new rules. It seems that the government is planning an implementation timeframe to allow TUI/SW to adapt. The alternative will be to seasonally charter CDN carriers (CanJet?) to cover some of the winter lift but that does nothing to solve the TUI dilemma of redeploying surplus B737 airframes in the winter season. The only logical solution is subleasing aircraft to SW as year round C-reg. This will however adversely affect the European pilot staffing levels but the pendulum always swings as far backwards as it swings forwards.gonnabeapilot wrote:I must say, I'm very disappointed that winter wet-leases are the direction that things appear to be taking when it comes to legislating a method for European pilots to work here over the winter. I've always been a vocal supporter of 1:1 reciprocity, however the traditional method that has been used by Sunwing was the one that benefited Canadian pilots the most. (This is, of course, ignoring the legal mumbo jumbo about how pilots were being counted and the ridiculous lop-sidedness the program has taken over the last few years). Traditionally Canadian pilots at Sunwing working in Europe would go over under wet-lease contracts. It meant that the crews were not required to go through any form of training or license validation, it preserved Sunwing's working terms and conditions and it preserved the seniority system established at the airline. In the winter, European pilots would come to Sunwing and fly mixed-crew on C-Reg Aircraft. This meant that for the Canadian pilots working at Sunwing, their quality of life improved greatly during the winter months. The Europeans went to the bottom of the seniority list (and by doing so, tended to get the worst of the flying and improved every Canadian pilot's shot at getting days off, vacation, etc...) the variety of flying increased as all pilots were able to bid on all flying and the number of bases available for Canadian pilots to bid into increased which allowed Canadian guys from outside of Toronto and Montreal to live in their homes for the winter instead of commuting. It was the perfect scenario and with some modifications to legislation, it would have been easy to employ a 1:1 reciprocity program while keeping this structure.
These days people seem to prefer a wet-lease for wet-lease exchange program. (I'm guessing simply because it involves the least number of changes to existing legislation). But by doing so, the quality of life for Canadians employed by Sunwing will be worse off. Since the wet-lease aircraft can only be crewed by the Foreign pilots that come over with them, it limits the flying available to the Canadians. It also means that certain bases will exclusively be foreign Reg. aircraft with foreign crews, eliminating opportunities for Canadian pilots to live in their homes during the winter months.
It is great to see the that the numbers are starting to even out and that the hiring of Canadian pilots will continue. But now is an important phase in the evolution of this program. For those that have always claimed that they only want what's best for Canadian pilots, I would encourage them to do their due diligence when they advocate for one solution over another, because the decisions they influence will have a very real and lasting impact on the lives of the hundreds of Canadian pilots employed at Sunwing now and well into the future.
*As a bit of a side note from the above rant, it sounds like a big chunk of the Canadian seasonal pilots who have been hired for this winter season will be Jazz pilots on a seasonal leave of absence. There are rumours that, if successful this winter, the program will be formalized a bit more moving forward. I think that this would be great to see and I really hope that both companies can come up with a solution that benefits both of them.
The SW pilots benefit as organic growth and expansion is the result and nobody is trying to use policy or legislation to put SW out of business. Level playing field that's all. This is not bad news for SW. Status quo has allowed SW to establish a significant share of the leisure travel market in Canada. Adapt to the new rules and and continue to thrive.