The union representing Adria Airways’ pilots has announced a series of strikes beginning next Sunday after it failed to reach an agreement over their new collective bargaining agreement with the company’s management. The strikes, each lasting three days, will run from September 8 at midnight until September 10 at 23.59, from September 18 at midnight until September 20 at 23.59 and from September 30 until October 2. The existing collective agreement expires today. The Slovenian Pilots Union said it urged the management to begin talks as early as last summer, however, they only started this June. "As a union, given the current circumstances, we are left with no other option then to go on strike and make it clear to the management that we are no longer able to do our jobs under existing working conditions”, the union noted.
Pilots claim that rights within their existing contracts are regularly breached. Crew duty times have been significantly extended, while there have also been complaints of more out-of-base operations. Pilot union leader, Luka Radovic, said, "Pilots need to work in line with the collective agreement. The consequences are fatigue and sick leave. Instead of the company scheduling thirty flights per day, there should be five less. This would provide enough standby personnel in the event an aircraft is grounded or there is a lack of staff". Mr Radovic previously noted, "We are under a great deal of stress. The flexibility we provide to the company is quite high compared to previous years. We also work more than fifty hours a week and Adria has been breaching the collective agreement for some time".
Adria Airways said it still hopes to avoid a strike and will continue negotiations with the pilots throughout next week. The last time the airline’s pilots staged a walk-out was in March 2017. The industrial action lasted for two days. Following the announcement of further strikes, a deal was reached with the company's management. The potential industrial dispute comes at a time when Adria is seeking to win back the trust of its passengers following operational issues experienced over the summer season. The union representing Adira Airways' cabin crew is also considering a possible walk-out should talks with the management fail.
Bad week for Slovenian aviation.
ReplyDeleteThis will be the end of JP if strikes go ahead.
ReplyDeletePilots don't care.
DeleteWould a strike also affect their ACMI ops or just flights from LJU and PRN?
ReplyDeleteI think it affects ACMI flights as well.
DeleteIf it affects ACMI, Lufthansa & co. will see very clearly JP is an unreliable wet lease partner.
DeleteUsually in ACMI there is a daily penalty if you are unable to operate. I would imagine that to be at least 20-30k/day/aircraft. Don't think JP can sustain this.
Luxair has expressed it is unhappy with Adria as wetlease partner. It was reported by Luxembourg newspapers last week.
DeleteWhat is the reason for that unhappiness?
DeleteWhat a mess.
ReplyDeleteAnd no sight of Mesa Airlines as Adria's saviour.
DeleteOr Cityjet for that matter. Just goes to show how rotten Adria is.
DeleteIt goes to show that 4k is just trying to borrow time with stories about interested strategic partners.
DeleteHope tbe pilots know what they are doing. They will help bankrupt their own employer.
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, 4K is the one who brought Adria to its knees. Pilots will just finish the job. Good thing for 4K though, they won't be responsible for the bankruptcy.
Delete+1 last anon.
DeleteNothing really changed with 4k. Adria was already in a very bad shape before the take over.
DeleteWell, they sure didn't make any radical changes. So, yeah, nothing changed.
DeleteThis is such a cataclysmic period for Slovenian aviation. First JP keeps on going from bad to worse, then W6 cancels CRL flights only to cancel LTN a few days later. Also who knows how long easyJet will stick around as they are highly unpredictable.
ReplyDeleteBad period to be a Slovenian aviation fan. With German economy slowing down things will only get worse.
And there is a possible strike at LJU next month.
DeleteAnd MBX...
DeleteSad :(
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't management start talks last summer when requested?
ReplyDeleteThey were too busy opening new routes without any market research only to shut them all down a few months later.
DeleteExactly!
DeleteAgony.
ReplyDeleteSometimes in life you are left out with few or no options....I think when management starts to breach their rights according to (almost) expired collective agreement then things are not good at all.
ReplyDeleteThese pilots are better off finding a job elsewhere and just let Adria die....the company is in a rough position and the recovery is very unlikely. All due because of very bad managing decisions.
+2
DeleteIf they were smart, they would start looking for a new job months ago. That way you get paid while going on interviews and while waiting for start date with new employer while remaining current.
DeleteBut no, let's bankrupt the company and then mooch the country's social benefits while interviewing and having no flight within the last 3/6 months.
@Anonymous 1 September 2019 at 11:55:
DeleteHow do you know all these things? Are you in any way affiliated with Adria's pilots?
No. But I have a rough idea how aviation business works.
DeleteEmphasis on rough. I am pretty sure no one is looking forward to mooch Slovenia's excellent unemployment benefits.
DeleteHow ironic that at the same time they are hiring cabin crew.
ReplyDeleteTrue but it also shows that many have left the company.
DeleteI wonder if anyone will apply
DeleteWill they wet lease planes from other airlines like last time to avoid disruptions?
ReplyDeleteThat would be very costly.
DeleteCarpatair F100 incoming :D
DeleteI hope they manage to reach agreement next week.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't hold my breath.
DeleteTerrible news for Adria.
ReplyDeleteThere must be some light at the end of this dark JP tunnel.
ReplyDeleteThere is, and it is a toll station.
DeleteIt's the TGV going at max speed in the opposite direction.
DeleteI still hope they'll reach an agreement. Slovenia will be in a worse position than Hungary or Slovakia if Adria goes bust.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope they solve this.
DeleteWell, Slovakia is in the very worst position due to extreme proximity of BTS to VIE. And KSC is too small to really matter.
DeleteI hope Adria can find a way to carry on. The haters on here will continue their anti-Adria agendas come what may. Those that hate themselves love to put the boot in elsewhere. Now, I wonder where most of these 'subsidized' comments emanate...
DeleteWhat are the Pilots exact demands ?
ReplyDeletePare ili zivot
DeleteBice zivot
I dont think the strike is about money....it s about working conditions
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteGood joke
DeleteI do support JP Flight Crews but even more Cabin Crews and ground staff. I think their fatigue outcomes of unscertain circumstances and odds about the airline future. Their flight dutues are below the FTL thresholds and much below e.g. standard of an LCC (90-100 hours). Once this gents will have to start feel the reality of airline business and don't stuch their heads 20 years in the past.
ReplyDeleteWow, below LCC? Depends which metric you use. Flying 55 sectors/month is not less than what they're doing at LCCs. If your average sector length is 1 hour of course you can't do 100 hours per month. Do the math and stop posting bs.
DeleteIt's sad that LCCs have better conditions than Star Alliance members.
DeleteBut the fact is that for majority Slovenians leaving their home village is something they would never consider. And employers know this, so they can offer much lower salaries because - where is a Slovenian pilot going to go if he only wants to live/work in Slovenia? Monopolies aren't a nice thing on job markets as well.
Pilots in this forum can defend their numbers as they wish. But the reality is they fly way below the standards set by authorities. You cannot call procedures set by aviation authorities right when they favor you and wrong when you want something else. None of us in Slovenia are sympathising with these greedy folks.
Delete@Anonymous 2 September 2019 at 18:16:
DeleteAgain, any proof to what you're saying or just posting bs? Unless you post all the numbers (average monthly sectors, yearly duty time), your comments are unsubstantiated.
I still don't understand why some people (who probably have no clue at what's going on at Adria) try to portray pilots as overpaid, underworked bus drivers.
And one more thing. You can't compare a regional airline (Adria) to a long haul airline in terms of block time, number of sectors, duty time, etc. If you had any clue, you'd know that.
Deleteit would really help with the discussion if someone (that is adria's pilot) would bring out actual numbers of work and also what should the "violation" be. as discussed also in the media, noone is talking that regulations are breached, only collective agreement....and collective agreement can be more favourable than current EASA regulations.
Deleteonly info is that someone has posted that the average number of monthly sectors flown is 55.
let's assume the EASA 28 consecutive days as a month for the sake of simple math. FTL.205 gives you basically a thoretical 10 sectors per day (with apropriate shortened FDP) and FTL.210 gives you 190 duty hours per month and 100 hours of flight time per month maximum.
so with as someone states above an average flight time of 1h, i fail to see the math on any kind of reaching EASA limits with respect to daily/monthly sectors flown and flightime. So the only "problem" could be the duty time and a bad organizaton of the process (a not that much flight time, but comparably a lot of down time between flights).
But as said, i don't know what is with the fixation on the 55 monthly sectors...can be fully legal and way below EASA limits without knowing why this is a problem. Speaking legally (i.e. what are regulations saying). Can fully understand that it can get tiring, but if it's quite a bit below maximum, it's no wonder the management wants to push the productivity higher....and that is a thing that a collective agreement is for. But when no collective agreement is in force, you run on regulatory minmums/maximums, and that are probably way higher.
So as long as the pilot's union doesn't make public their exact-ish numbers, we can all speculate a bit. Or it would even help if someone would post adria's collective agreement, which ended this weekend, and we would se the number from the collective agreement, and by which number the maximums were below EASA prescribed maximums. I would wager the numbers were miles away from any regulatory maximums.
You have correctly come the conclusion that the main problem is poor utilisation (11 hours duty time with 4 hour block time). Flying 50+ sectors/month with 11 hour duty time is tiring as hell.
DeleteNo one was saying that maximum monthly/yearly block time was reached at any point due to the aforementioned problem (short sectors, long duty time). So calling Adria's pilots lazy and underworked seems unfounded. Monthly/yearly block times are not the only metrics used to determine hard work/laziness.
no, but you can start to see the business dynamic in those matters - that is why the management could have zero interest in reaching a collective agreement. if they do nothing, the company runs on EASA maximums, and automatically they can force higher utilisation without the need to offer anything and would also have good cards in the case of a judicial dispute.
Deletelike i mentioned in the previous post...this is a match of showing muscles for a collective agreement which would determine lower maximus. and each party has their own set of cards...the management has the above mentioned card of doing nothing and thereby forcing pilots to go to EASA maximums, and the pilots hold the card of prolonged strike and thereby forcing the management to declare bankrupcty, if the strike goes on for too long, as the liquidity will evaporate in a second.
But as always: we will see what the future brings.
Anonymous 2 September 2019 at 18:16: ".... None of us in Slovenia are sympathising with these greedy folks."
DeleteAnother couch airline manager... Its not a question of greedy folks. Its a question of having decent pilots flying for Adria. Thats what most of us in Slovenia care about. Bad conditions are deterring good and experienced pilots - these had the luxury to go elsewhere. What we are left with are a bunch of rookies or imported pilots replacing the experienced... If you had actually flown with Adria you should have been able to observe the quality decline. Believe me, I fly over 60 flights a year, and am becoming scared after several strange situations or nasty hard landings (in perfect weather...).
Normal people would care about safety and comfort, but the typical Slovenian jealous couch commentator is irritated since the pilot has a higher salary than him...
I support these pilots (even though I would be affected on 2 already booked flights...). And if this accelerates bankruptcy, let it be... After suffering a few months at least we should be getting some normal legacy airlines appearing in LJU.
As long as EASA allows maximum awake time of 18 h, I don't care which metric you use (sectors, DP, FDP,...). It's not the same flying long haul for 10 hours or doing 4-5 sectors while being on duty for 12 hours. And of course doing the same thing all over again after 12 hours. Things have gone too far and pencil pushers at EASA have lost it completely.
DeleteAnd cabin crew could follow.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the airline's finances, couldn't have come at a worse time.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a bad time for the last 10 years.
DeleteIn case of Adria bankruptcy: 1. is it easy for these pilots to find another airline to work for (and with similar salary), not counting relocation if they need to move?
ReplyDeleteWell, not as easy as it would have been 2 years ago as pilot market has cooled off.
DeleteAlso, CRJ is useless type rating as well as people who have been in any job (not only aviation) for a very long time usually have difficulties integrating into a new environment.
I'd say 50% of the pilots would find a new job easily, and the other 50% with a lot of difficulties, but they probably wouldn't be unemployed forever.
Right on.
DeleteUnions are useless in today's society
ReplyDeleteThey are still cancelling and merging flights every day.
ReplyDeleteDidn't you hear? Problems will be sorted by beginning of July.
DeleteAnd there will be more co-operation with the media.
Time to let Adria finally go.
ReplyDeleteI do not see the problem.
ReplyDeleteIf they want to work less, they have less work hours. They say they are played by work hour.
So, if they do not want a pay rise, each month they will get 20% less in they pay check.
It actually seems this is a sort of a preemptive move that is likely connected to the current breaking news related to JP.
ReplyDeleteThe airport of Ostrava recently launched a highly paid PSO for each 11 weekly feeder flights to MUC and VIE.
It is said that JP is very interested which makes sense given their history with these type of flights in Europe/EU opening a base there with one plane, CR7 or S20 and operate 22 short flights a week. In the tender it says it has to be a feeder airline with at least interlines or codeshares to other airlines from the two hubs. Would work perfectly too for Adria with their SA membership for connecting flights by LH and OS.
Probably pilots don't want to be based in Czechia for the next 5 years.
Probably not permanently and why should they be?
DeleteYou are very optimistic if you believe Adria has even remote chance to survive until the Ostrava PSO start, provided they would win the contract.
DeleteWho is going to pay for ad-hoc wet leases in the middle of summer season? Hundreds of thousands (more likely) millions in pax compensations for delays and cancellations? Loss of revenue due reduced bookings, as everybody with common sense now buys tickets with other carriers if possible? Pay all the outstanding debt to suppliers?
And all this before we even start the dead winter season.
Anon 8h59
DeleteBecause their employer sends them there and pays them for it.
@Anonymous 1 September 2019 at 23:39:
DeleteI didn't know that my employer has every right to do whatever he wishes. Even to relocate me wherever he wants. Are you sure about that?
Reality check: they can open a permanent base in say OSR and downsize LJU.
DeleteThen some pilots will have to choose between moving to OSR or redundancy.
This is how the real world works. Not that JP will be here long enough for their pilots to see this.
Ok, no problem. Let all pilots choose redundancy, then. They won't be able to find CRJ pilots anywhere. It's about time to stop the management from doing things as they please.
DeleteLook at Ryanair. The conditions finally improved, however there is already a master plain in force to drive them down again. Crews are not a work tools that management can use at will according to their moments of inspiration. And moving people around the world is not something anyone should accept lightly. Period.
But, like you said. This is going to end bad no matter what the pilots do. All thanks to the brilliant management.
@10h22
ReplyDeleteSurely Adria will apply. Of course we all don't know if they will win the contract- but if they do, with 5 million more in their pockets that will help them survive the winter.
You really think PSO contracts just pay out cash straight away? :
DeleteI'd imagine there are some startup fees and monthly payments from there on.
I doubt anyone in the business is naive enough to give JP cash for a 4-year contract in advance.
A bunch of smart asses here, commenting from their couch, not knowing anything about airline industry nor situation the Adria employees are in.... And the hatered you steam off on this forum is unimaginable....
ReplyDeleteSome of us know quite a bit, that's the thing.
DeleteUnfortunately, just some.
Deletethis situation is like being on the titanic and arguing between themselves whether to wear tuxedo or classic suit for the dinner party while the ship is sinking.
ReplyDeleteHehe, good one :).
Delete+2
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