A View from the Staff
I have been the Human Resources Manager at Astraeus for nearly three years and during that time, there has been a significant change that has impacted on the people that we employ. Our change in business model has pushed for more flexible practices, such as the engagement of contract pilots, whilst we have recruited across a range of aircraft (e.g. the introduction of the A320) and geographies (e.g. to support the Bergamo operation).
Recruitment activities have fluctuated somewhat during my tenure at Astraeus, often reflecting the current economic climate although, more recently, our resourcing requirements have bucked the trend with us bringing over a hundred new employees in 2009 already across a number of geographies. And whilst recruitment has slowed down as we move closer to the end of the year, there has continued to be a high number of speculative employment enquiries, again indicative of the current state of the aviation industry. Indeed, one weekend alone saw nearly 200 enquiries and when you consider that we endeavour to ensure each one is logged and responded to, you can imagine the impact this has on our workload!
Finally, the past three years has been a busy time for employment law and it is obviously imperative that our practices reflect this ensuring that all staff are treated fairly and consistently - and this can often review processes right across the business, be it within IT, Rostering and so on.
- Matthew Wilkie, Human Resources Manager, Astraeus Airlines
Customer Testimonials
Iceland Express
In the demanding and dynamic industry of passenger flight, the need for dependable end experienced business partners is essential.
For the last 7 years, Astraeus Airlines has provided Iceland Express with airplanes and pilots for our scheduled passenger flights, and since 2003 they have been the sole provider for us in our flight operation.
The fleet and service is very reliable and the ability of the Astraeus staff to respond quickly and effectively to often difficult situations has been invaluable and made all problem solving that much easier.
Our cooperation with Astraeus has been excellent and will hopefully remain so for years to come.
- Hildur María Gunnarsdóttir, Operations Director, Iceland Express
Ghana International Airlines
Ghana International Airlines has developed an exceptional working relationship with Astraeus that goes well beyond traditional ACMI. In addition to leasing a Boeing 757, Astraeus has assisted us with training of our cabin crew and pilots to EU-OPS standards and provided us with the much needed operational depth and experience that small carriers often struggle without. We would not have been able to achieve our ambitious targets of 85% on-time performance and 99.9% dispatch reliability without the assistance of our friends and colleagues at Astraeus.
- Gifty E. Annan-Myers, Ag. Chief Executive Officer
Iron Maiden
We've now circumnavigated the globe twice with Astraeus, traveling close to one hundred thousand miles. It was a pleasure to be partners in this totally new way of undertaking world tours - with band, crew and equipment all sharing one plane.
- Rod Smallwood, Band Manager of Iron Maiden
Palmair
Palmair first took to the air in 1958 when 36 passengers who’d each paid 45 guineas for a two week holiday boarded a Vickers Viscount at Bournemouth and four hours later arrived at the little known Mediterranean island of Majorca and this is where the name of the company is derived from, Palma being the capital city of Majorca.
50 years on, the company, now larger but still based at Bournemouth operates weekly charters to 12 destinations throughout Europe, the Canary Islands and North Africa carrying some 60,000 passengers annually from Bournemouth, Exeter and Jersey airports – the company is the oldest surviving ATOL (Air Travel Operators Licence) holder, number 0003.
As a small independent family owned company the company has had to face up to, survive and prosper against some huge national mass market travel companies together with intense competition from the so called ‘lo-cost’ carriers and a decision taken some years ago to remain very much a ‘full service’ carrier appears to be paying off. In 2008 subscribers to the Consumers Association’s publication Which? voted Palmair best European short-haul carrier catapulting the company over every UK rival – this, with just one elderly leased Boeing 737-200.
By early 2008 and faced with huge fuel price increases the company decided to re-equip and a search began for a like-minded airline management company with the capability to transition Palmair seamlessly into new technology. Gatwick based Astraeus became the obvious candidate and an ‘ACMI’ deal was struck between the two followed shortly by the delivery into service of a Boeing 737-500 series aircraft at the beginning of May 2009 – an aircraft with greater range, lower fuel consumption, quieter and altogether leaner and greener than it’s predecessor!
Astraeus retains responsibility for the aircraft, crewing, maintenance and insurance issues and Palmair cabin crew operate totally under the auspices of the Astraeus AOC. The aircraft is fully liveried in Palmair’s colours, the cabin and cabin service are fully Palmair branded and Astraeus’ very experienced, highly knowledgeable and totally professional staff oversee & manage all aspects of this operation from their Gatwick base leaving Palmair’s team free to concentrate on managing it’s inclusive –tour programmes through some challenging times.
- David Skillicorn, Palmair Managing Director
Trawel Fly
What impresses me within Astraeus is not a single thing: it is, instead, the fluency of processes granted by the team of professionals managing the whole flying.
- Paolo Sgaramella, Vice President Foreign Markets
Chemical Wedding
For our private charter to The Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of "Chemical Wedding", our first port of call was Astraeus Airlines. Every detail was catered for and not one of our strange requests turned down.
From wanting mystery messages on the check in screens, men with placards at the airport, ghoulish pranks onboard, to assisting with the goody bags, nothing was too much trouble.
We had a wonderful flight with Captain Bruce Dickinson at the controls and an amazing, accommodating crew onboard that made our trip one to remember.
- Chemical Wedding Team
