Pilot Association:-Norwegian is understaffed on pilots

airline NorwegianThe airline Norwegian. Photo: Norway Today Media

Norwegian encourage pilots to fly on holidays and has to hire manned aircraft to ensure that they will get enough pilots for all their scheduled flights. The company denies that there is any general pilot shortage.

Dagbladet has observed several text messages where pilots and cabin crew in Norwegian are being encouraged to work extra hours. One of the messages from early April, says that there is general shortage of cabin crew and pilots on all Norwegian bases.
– There are daily requests to work on holidays. It can create unnecessary pressure,  Alexander Tinholt said. He is the leader of Norwegian Pilot Group (NPG), which is an association of national pilot unions in Norwegian. They organize 1,000 Norwegian pilots in total.
Tinholt points out that Norwegian spent 112 million on leased aircraft, including leased crews, in the first quarter.
– Whichever way you look at it, there is a general shortage of manpower on their flights, he says.
“It is not true that we have a general pilot shortage,” Norwegian’s Communications Director Lasse Sandakerveien-Nielsen writes . “It is correct that insufficient internal planning meant that we did not have enough pilots for a while. But then we hired aircraft and crew from other companies to avoid cancellations and stranded passengers. “,he writes.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today    ØK,,,,,,,,04,31