Canjet training Air Transat 737 pilots

[verybadman]

Yesterday, our MEC announced that CanJet has entered into a training agreement with Air Transat.

24 Transat pilots will be starting their Ground School on November 12, there will be two other courses starting on January 6 and February 3, with 12 pilots in each course. So CanJet will be training all the B-737 crews for Air Transat....thats all 48 crew members from Air Transat.

Clearly this is purely for IMP's monetary reward at the expense of CJA pilots, and a mitigation factor to the lack of FLVC (not bad in of its self) but very ironic that CJ pilots will be training their own replacements. As you can imagine, this nothing our hardworking MEC agreed to, and is an abuse of the seasonal contract pilot provisions of our contract.

Once again IMP breaks one off in the ass of their pilots!

[BE20 Driver]

Maybe I misunderstood the whole situation.

I thought you guys were doing some temporary contract flying for Transat on some routes they thought were more profitable on narrow body jets. Your customer has now realized they want their own 73's. Canjet is training those drivers and giving them line training etc over a few months negating hiring a bunch of European pilots to take jobs that could go to Canadians.

If this is the way it is, a contract has ended that you were never going to permanently hold anyway. You're temporarily flying with Canadians over the winter which gets Gilles et al off you back for a while and in the spring, you go back to your regular summer schedule.
Canjet benefits by doing a temporary contract for another company (the future competition in this case), employing a few more pilots, keeping a few more hulls moving and increasing revenue for the season. That revenue can then be used for say, high priced immigration lobbyists, or just straight to management bonuses for increasing the bottom line for the quarter.

It's possible I don't understand the situation. I haven't been able to follow all the goings on while working overseas. I don't work in Canada at the moment because:

1. I Can't get a winter job with Canjet or Sunwing because,
2. I don't have a 737 Type Rating because,
3. Repeat Step 1 and 2.

[Rogerdodger2]

To BE20
4. Sunwing just hired 40 Canadian Winter Contractors, non of them had 738 ratings.

[rudder]

Presuming that AT is paying for all of the B737 initial training expense and the payroll expense, this is actually a pretty good deal for CJ (but not necessarily the CJ pilots). I hope that the pilots will all be civil to each other recognizing that it is their employers making these operational and commercial decisions, not the pilot groups. If nothing else, this demonstrates that the "shop Canadian" initiative being advocated by several parties in respect of commercial pilots is working and that the regulatory and subjective government agency approval for foreign pilots or aircraft is only available as a last resort and where equal reciprocity can be demonstrated. This year alone it could be estimated that almost 100 B737NG type ratings will have been doled out to Canadian airline pilots (SW 70/AT 24/CJ ?).

As a last resort, perhaps AT and SW will offer preferential hiring to CJ pilots if CJ ends up with surplus pilots in 2014. Did any CJ pilots previously leave for SW or AT?

[BE20 Driver]

To BE20
4. Sunwing just hired 40 Canadian Winter Contractors, non of them had 738 ratings.

To be honest, I didn't apply this year. My overseas gig runs well into the winter vacation season. I did apply the previous two years and didn't even get an interview.

To the OP, I see more positives in you guys training a few Canadian pilots, no matter where they come from.

[oldman]

Cool your jets people! Sometimes business requires confidentially and announcements need to be timed right for the sake of ALL parties involved. The CJ MEC will likely be in lightened at a meeting in Halifax on Tuesday. I'm betting they won't be disappointed.

[leftoftrack]

Interesting. Might the Canjet pilots be "traded" to AT?

[Takeoff OK]

Excuse me if I'm missing something here, but how the F*CK can any CJ pilot be pissed about training TS guys and girls? Would you rather it be foreigners!?! It's not our fault your contract is ending. We're taking our flying back, plain and simple. You never owned it. If anything, this may help maintain a few more of you for a while longer. And there's probably going to be some back scratching coming your way because of it.

[leftoftrack]

I don't have a horse in this race. But I'll take a stab at it?

Last week they flew airplanes to the Caribbean and Mexico next week their teaching someone else to fly the same planes to the Caribbean and Mexico, and the week after that they don't get a pay check so the bank takes away their house. People become upset when the bank takes away their house

[Takeoff OK]

You mean like me being laid off while the same CJ guys were carrying my passengers down to the caribbean over the last year? Is that what you mean?

[leftoftrack]

You mean like me being laid off while the same CJ guys were carrying my passengers down to the caribbean over the last year? Is that what you mean?

Kinda. We're you angry that the bank was going to take your house? That's how they feel I imagine, only now they get to train the pilots who will be flying the same type of airplane on the same routes that they were flying.

Like I said this isn't my fight and I sure hope that the agreement between transat AT and Canjet to pick the guys up full-time.

[Takeoff OK]

Let's put it in perspective; If the AC pilots were able to pull the Sky Regional Embraer flying back in-house, would the Sky people be justified if their response was anger? Absolutely not. They never should have gotten those planes. If not for ACPA negligence and Harper f*ckery, they never would have been created in the first place. In the end, bringing flying back to it's true brand is only a good thing for the industry as a whole. The CJ people knew their contract was temporary. Surprise! It's ending. It would have ended as soon as a lower bidder came along anyway. Let's all be happy it's not Scumwing picking up the contract, or Enerjet, or the next bullsh*t enterprise to come along. Instead of anger, maybe they should look at this as an opportunity to get away from IMP. Be kind to those people you are training, because in the end they may be the key to a more permanent position for you...

[Rogerdodger2]

So any company in competition with TS is Bullsh-t?

[Spaceshuttle]

Returning "In House", I am confused? You work for Transat AT? I thought you were contracted like CJ, and before that WJ... Scumwing? just because they are kicking your butt doesn't mean you have to be so nasty, next you'll be yelling at ROUGE because they are taking your summer runs...Judging by the constant lay-offs at AT you may be needing a job soon so you should be NICE ...

[Wheels]

[rotorjay]

Well said "Wheels"....like a speckle trout we eat our own!

[ea306]

Oh my. Bit nasty in here.

[Takeoff OK]

Returning "In House", I am confused? You work for Transat AT? I thought you were contracted like CJ, and before that WJ... Scumwing? just because they are kicking your butt doesn't mean you have to be so nasty, next you'll be yelling at ROUGE because they are taking your summer runs...Judging by the constant lay-offs at AT you may be needing a job soon so you should be NICE ...

No I don't work for AT directly. I am on the TS seniority list, which makes me a TS employee -- ultimately paid from the AT coffers, though. But you are mistaken: we are not contracted. We are guaranteed a minimum 60% of all AT flying (In a perfect world it would be 100%; which is something we have to work towards.). The rest ends up as people carrying OUR passengers under different paint. Why do I say OUR passengers? Because this company only became a viable entity due to the many sacrifices and hardships of the original AIR TRANSAT pilots. AT is a later evolution. And in reality, the real brand recognition is ultimately associated with our planes. I wouldn't have a problem with the contract carriers necessarily as long as none of our list is on the street. That has not been the case over the last year, though. Yet I don't actually blame the Canjet pilots for it; they're just trying to get by along with the rest of us. I blame AT senior management and IMP for that fiasco. It now seems, though, that AT is willing to try to do their part to solidify their corner of the industry into something respectable, which is far more than I can say for Scumwing management. And, yes, don't worry; Rouge is definitely going to do their absolute best to try to destroy us, under the protection of Harper Inc; so there will be anti-Rouge rants coming out of me within the next year or so.

And by the way, I am done with applying to any airline in this country, period. So, no, I do not have to be nice anymore, because I no longer want to work with you.

[confuzed]

No I don't work for AT directly. I am on the TS seniority list, which makes me a TS employee -- ultimately paid from the AT coffers, though. But you are mistaken: we are not contracted. We are guaranteed a minimum 60% of all AT flying (In a perfect world it would be 100%; which is something we have to work towards.). The rest ends up as people carrying OUR passengers under different paint. Why do I say OUR passengers? Because this company only became a viable entity due to the many sacrifices and hardships of the original AIR TRANSAT pilots. AT is a later evolution. And in reality, the real brand recognition is ultimately associated with our planes. I wouldn't have a problem with the contract carriers necessarily as long as none of our list is on the street. That has not been the case over the last year, though. Yet I don't actually blame the Canjet pilots for it; they're just trying to get by along with the rest of us. I blame AT senior management and IMP for that fiasco. It now seems, though, that AT is willing to try to do their part to solidify their corner of the industry into something respectable, which is far more than I can say for Scumwing management. And, yes, don't worry; Rouge is definitely going to do their absolute best to try to destroy us, under the protection of Harper Inc; so there will be anti-Rouge rants coming out of me within the next year or so.

And by the way, I am done with applying to any airline in this country, period. So, no, I do not have to be nice anymore, because I no longer want to work with you.

WOW!! Sense of entitlement much?!? You just bring a bad name to the Transat drivers man. An attitude like that is just mind blowing, which is rather unfortunate.

I think it's a great arrangement, as now less foreign pilots are required overall.

BTW, I truly hope that Air Transat weathers the storm man, because with comments like your ending one might come back to haunt you. Nothing is finite in this industry, whoever puts you out of business today, could be feeding your family next month.

[Takeoff OK]

Entitlement? Not really. I'm just fed up with the way this industry is going. If things go south again, I will pursue venues other than the Canadian airline industry. By the way, I do not speak for any other TS pilot. This is my opinion.

The reason I refer to Sunwing as Scumwing is a result of their management's actions over the last several years. They used questionable practices to establish market share and it has hurt all of us across the industry. If they were to change their practices, I may change my view. I guess this winter will be telling, but I'm not holding my breath. That being said, I hold no ill feelings towards Sunwing's Canadian pilots, nor any other Canadian pilot.

Rant over.

[Rogerdodger2]

What questionable practices are you referring to? Have there been any charges, findings or violations levied on SW by any government agency or regulatory body? Or are the practices questionable to only you and other TS employees? I wonder why that is?

[FL320]

TO ok,

With that kind of attitude I feel bad for the guy seated next to you during a 4h flight....b

[Takeoff OK]

Me too.