sábado, 26 de outubro de 2013

Trainees are charged hefty fees to work for Ryanair. 9/10/2013 Avião da Ryanair desviado para Faro devido a indisposição do comandante. Ryanair Mayday Mayday - International Part 1/ Ryanair sacks pilot who appeared in Channel 4 documentary on safety / Ryanair ordered to 'review' fuel policy after making THREE emergency landings because planes almost ran out.


Would-be Ryanair cabin crew can pay nearly £2,000 for training, but still remain on probation. Photograph: Tom King /Alamy
Trainees are charged hefty fees to work for Ryanair
Cabin crew speak out over course costs as airline chief Michael O'Leary vows to rein in its 'macho' image
Jamie Doward

They are promised an exciting career and the chance to see "the world's top sights", but some who pay the best part of £2,000 for training courses to join a company that supplies Ryanair with cabin crew end up disappointed.

Those who are rejected during their probationary period are still pursued for training costs, while others with jobs are left angry by the working conditions dictated by their contract. Now several have raised their concerns with third parties who have discussed their situation with the Observer.

The trainees are too frightened to speak directly to newspapers for fear that they may be pursued by lawyers for breaching their contracts, which they believe forbid them from talking to the media. But their decision to break their silence will focus further attention on Ryanair after its chief executive, Michael O'Leary, promised to reform its "abrupt culture" and rein in its "macho" image.

Many Ryanair cabin crew are supplied by an Irish firm, Crewlink, which takes them on only after they have successfully completed a six-week training course.

Crewlink runs its own course, but it also accepts recruits from a training school run by St James Management Services, based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Those on the St James course pay £1,650 upfront, or £1,800 in instalments. Once the recruit starts working for Ryanair, Crewlink, their employer, deducts £150 a month from their salary to cover the cost of the course if they chose to pay in instalments. But it has been claimed that many who go on the course are rejected during a probationary period, leaving them with a hefty training bill. A Crewlink spokesman said: "The overwhelming majority, over 95%, remain in our employment after six months."

Emails seen by the Observer reveal that St James routinely tells trainees it will instruct a debt-collecting agency to pursue those with outstanding fees. According to the agreement, "successful participants must achieve an 85% or 90% pass rate in all their examinations throughout the course".

Crewlink's contract, seen by the Observer, is clear there is no guarantee of a Ryanair job. Those taken on by Crewlink are paid £13.39 an hour in-flight pay, according to the contract that explains that staff can transferred from one Ryanair base to another "without compensation". In one contract seen by the Observer, the probationary period lasts for 12 months.

The contract also explains that cabin crew are required to work a number of standby days each month whereby they must be available within one hour of being called. Crewlink's contract makes clear that there are no company provisions for sick pay and cabin crew must pay £30 a month for their uniform for the first 12 months. "The company can terminate your employment at any time by giving you the statutory period of notice," the contract dictates. It explains that "there is no notice period for those who have worked up to four weeks".

O'Leary won plaudits last week when he took to Twitter to answer questions from Ryanair passengers, many of whom subjected him to personal abuse. But in a sign that the company is keen to change its image, he promised to listen more to customers. However, he has said little so far about whether he sees any need to change the culture for those who wear the Ryanair uniform.

A Crewlink spokesman declined to comment on "inaccurate claims" about its contract. He added: "If people don't like our terms and conditions, they are free to leave at any time."

Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said it was concerned that many companies were asking their trainees to pay too much towards the cost of their training.

"Our advisers are increasingly seeing cases, in different sectors, where people are being charged for training, uniforms and travel with the promise of a job that never materialises," Guy said.

A Ryanair spokesman said: "Once cabin crew start working for Ryanair, we pay for all their recurrent training, which is exactly what other airlines do."

Requests for a comment from St James went unanswered.


9/10/2013
Avião da Ryanair desviado para Faro devido a indisposição do comandante
Voo tinha Tenerife como destino

A Ryanair disse que um avião da companhia aérea irlandesa de baixo custo com destino a Tenerife foi desviado hoje para Faro devido a uma indisposição do comandante.
 "O voo da Ryanair de East Midlands (Inglaterra] para Tenerife [Espanha] foi desviado hoje para Faro após o comandante ter-se sentido mal", refere nota da companhia enviada à agência Lusa, confirmando uma notícia avançada pela RTP.
 A mesma nota refere que "o copiloto aterrou o avião normalmente" às 09:45, segundo a ANA (Aeroportos de Portugal) e que "um comandante que estava de prevenção em Faro foi chamado para prosseguir o voo às 12:30".
 A Ryanair esclareceu que, a 20 de setembro, outro voo da companhia foi desviado para Faro, por causa do copiloto, que "também se sentiu mal".

LUSA


Ryanair sacks pilot who appeared in Channel 4 documentary on safety
Airline issues legal proceedings against John Goss and has already taken action over claims made in Dispatches programme
John Reynolds

Ryanair has sacked long-standing airline pilot John Goss with "immediate effect" and issued legal proceedings against him after he appeared in the Channel 4 documentary which raised questions over the airline's safety policy.

The no-frills airline has already instructed lawyers to take legal action against Channel 4's Dispatches over the allegations made in the documentary, called Ryanair: Secrets from the Cockpit.

The no-frills airline said in a statement: "We will not allow a Ryanair employee to defame our safety on national television just three weeks after he confirmed in writing to Ryanair that he had no concerns with safety and no reason to make any confidential safety report to either the IAA (Irish Aviation Authority) or Ryanair."

It is not known if Goss, a captain who has been with the airline for around 25 years, has himself taken legal advice. Goss was expected to retire in October of this year.

Goss is a member of the interim council of the Ryanair Pilot Group (RPG), the group which played a pivotal role in the Channel 4 documentary.

Ryanair has refused to engage with RPG and says that its safety record is unblemished.

"Ryanair rejected the false and defamatory claims made by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme which wrongly impugn and smear Ryanair's outstanding 29-year safety record based on nothing more than anonymous hearsay claims made by individuals whose identity was concealed, and/or by representatives of pilot unions of Ryanair's competitor airlines masquerading as a non-Ryanair Pilot Group," said the company.

A memo has also been circulated to all Ryanair pilots by its director of flight and ground operations, David O'Brien, according to a report in the Irish Independent.

"I write to advise you that Capt John Goss was today dismissed with immediate effect from Ryanair," the memo said. It added that safety remains Ryanair's "No 1 priority".

The memo added that management wrote to Mr Goss three weeks ago. Ryanair said it was "shocked and astonished" that he then contributed to the Channel 4 documentary.



Ryanair has sacked pilot John Goss after he appeared in Channel 4's Dispatches programme about safety. Photograph: Universal News And Sport (Scotland)

 
 Ryanair was operating with a level of fuel that was 'close to the minimum' required in the case of a diversion

Ryanair ordered to 'review' fuel policy after making THREE emergency landings because planes almost ran out
By RAY MASSEY

Budget airline Ryanair has been ordered to 'review' the amount of fuel it carries after three of its planes – including one from the UK -  were forced to make 'Mayday' emergency landings in Spain when  they started to run out .
The airline was operating with a level of fuel that was 'close to the minimum' required in the case of a diversion, they said.
Three Ryanair Boeing 737-800 aircraft heading to Madrid were forced to make emergency landings after being diverted to Valencia because of thunderstorms over the Spanish capital.
One of the three affected  planes was heading from Stansted Airport to Madrid when the diversions and emergency landings occurred at Valencia on July 26 this year.
The Irish Aviation Authority Report noted: 'All three aircraft declared an Emergency (Mayday) when the calculated useable fuel on landing at Valencia was less than the final reserve.'
The watchdogs accept that  all three Ryanair planes left for Madrid 'with fuel in excess of Flight plan requirements'  and also with fuel 'in excess of the minimum diversion fuel' required, so remained strictly  within the rules.
However, the IAA also noted: 'Diverting with fuel  close to the minimum diversion fuel in the circumstances presented on the evening in question was likely to present challenges for the crew.'
It has also questioned whether the current fuel limit rules give passenger jets enough latitude  land safely in the event of a diversion from Madrid – and asked Spanish aviation chiefs to look at them again.
Spanish pilot union leaders have accused Ryanair of 'operating on the very limits of legality' in the way it fuels its planes. But Ryanair has consistently denied any wrong-doing and says the report vindicates their stance that its planes fly within the rules.
In its recommendations for the future the IAA  said: 'Ryanair to review fuel policy and consider issuing guidance to Crew with respect to fuel when operating into busy airports with mixed aircraft operators and types, particularly in poor weather conditions when diversions are likely.'
The watchdogs said the airline should use such scenarios in its pilot training 'with particular emphasis on diversion management.'
It also calls on the authorities to 'review delays into Madrid to consider if additional fuel should be recommended or required to be carried in normal operations.'
The report said  the three Ryanair passenger jets were put into an initial holding pattern to the Southwest of Madrid 'which increased the diversion time' before they were diverted to Valencia.
The crews did declare an Emergency in line with oprtational procedures when they became aware that the calculated amount of useable fuel for landing at Valencia 'was less than the final reserve.'
All three aircraft landed at Valencia without further incident, said the  IAA watchdogs.
Commenting on the diverted plane from Stansted – flight FR5998 – the report says that as they descended in 'severe weather' to land at Madrid 'the captain decided to discontinue the approach as he  noted that two aircraft ahead had performed a go-around' – effectively a landing which is aborted close to the runway.
The Stansted plane was then diverted to Valencia where the air traffic controllers 'seemed overwhelmed with the traffic load.'
Told that they were facing a 10 minute delay at Valencia,  'the crew declared an Emergency (Mayday).'
They followed in  two other jets which had also declared an emergency – an Easyjet and a Lan-Chile A340.
In Madrid Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said:'We welcome this official report into the Valencia procedures on the 26th July last which confirms that all three Ryanair aircraft carried extra fuel and that all three complied fully with EU Ops procedures.'
'We also welcome this week's joint statement of the Irish and Spanish Transport Ministries which confirms that Ryanair's safety standards are on a par with the safest airlines in Europe.'
The IAA  recommendation came after Irish and Spanish aviation officials met in Dublin this week following comments by Spanish authorities about incidents in their airspace involving Europe's largest budget airline.

Ryanair was operating with a level of fuel that was 'close to the minimum' required in the case of a diversion

Sem comentários: