Things have gone from bad to worse.
Our mechanics and ground support crews, consisting of Saudis and Filipinos, went on strike this month due to not being paid in four months - one vendor paid up and the other still has not. Their company is apparently going bankrupt was the reason given, but they’re still being allowed to bid on the new contract, why?? All the while, the aviation department continued to pay that company despite knowing long before that they were not paying their own employees. Why? Also, the ramp workers were recently threatened to keep working without pay or they won’t have a job once the contract is awarded - this message came directly from our manager. Aside from this, they have no other choice bc their Iqamas have all expired and nobody is helping to renew them. Unlikely they’ll receive back pay either, especially if a new vendor is awarded the contract.
As a result, a memo instructing the pilots to refuel their own helicopters has been issued in the event they walk out again. This comes at a time where attrition rates are at record levels and we are at negative 30+ pilots. People are leaving bc of the current manager and his refusal/inability to hire while insistent upon running at maximum capacity when we just don’t have the manpower to do so. His way to get around this is by having the existing manpower work more days within the month so that we can sustain our operational tempo - there is no more home life vs. work balance anymore and most importantly it is inherently unsafe.
Consequently, four pilots went down due to fatigue and were seen by the clinic within the first month of operating on the new schedule (early August). These were senior captains that never complained and had never missed a day of work. This is what happens though when pilots fly 6-8 hours per day, 20-30 landings per day, and are expected to do this 20+ days a month whilst being separated from family. This 100% does not represent any industry norm and certainly doesn’t live up to the Aramco standard.
Also, those that the manager reports too (corporate) seem unaware of our issues. This is bc he keeps showing them that we are hiring more people whenever he’s actually just allowing the existing consultant pilot’s contracts to expire to where they fall out of the system entirely; then brings them back onto a new contract making it appear as if he’s still hiring. He’s hired a few Aramcons this way too, but from the existing contractor pool which does nothing to improve our manpower shortages. To help, all of the training & standardization captains are working on the line (not supposed too) instead of performing their actual jobs; to compound this the manager froze the the training budget until recently. There are many pilots that have had zero formal training in emergency procedures for a few years now, that’s how bad it is.
To attract more people and for the first time ever, we spent money on a recruiting agency: 20+ applicants, only five showed up to the actual interview, and two were hired (maybe). We never had issues recruiting before bc everyone used to want to work here. Those days are over.
We even had a young Saudi mechanic in Tanajib have his car repossessed due to lack of payment bc his company didn’t pay him for months. I’ve personally paid for food so that the ground crews could eat bc they don’t have any money left - the flight crews are tipping them whenever we shutdown for the day. The contract pilots are also going unpaid for weeks-months at a time; all the while, their new contracts have them working more: 6 weeks on / 4 weeks off and their daily pay rate was dropped significantly. Suffice to say, that’s not a sustainable practice and people are leaving which is going to have a negative net impact upon operations as a whole - JHAH 2.0.
Most concerning, I recently witnessed a highly respected senior Saudi Captain, a man that despite working for more than 30 years w/ Aramco still continues to fly the line (when he doesn’t have too), tell the manager that if this continues we will have a serious accident. The manager was dismissive, and said that we were all just being negative. In response to that, two senior Saudi fleet captains and the Chief Pilot stepped down from their positions last week bc they no longer want to be affiliated with this downward spiral or the consequences that it may invoke.
Ultimately, there are a lot of red flags going on with this transition and so it would behoove those in the upper management circles to start paying attention to what’s really going to happen - Ex. if you’re in drilling or producing you should understand quickly that our manager openly boasted in front of 20+ pilots about how he will soon have the ability to increase the rates you’re now paying for helicopter transport services. Will you get anything in return for this - better customer service, more available flights, the ability to access the booking system? No you will not - you’re being ripped off with no alternative.
These are just some of the internal problems, and is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The decision to transition to GACA will most likely end up being the worst decision made. There was never a need to do this either, as a simple phone call to the FAA field office in OKC would have prevented grounding the fleet for over a month and would’ve taken only a few days to remedy, but the manager refused giving anybody permission to call them. Also, the notam which banned us from flying during this time period was only for outside of Saudi territorial waters which meant we could’ve still flown to provide service for JTF, Berri, Manifa, and the South Safaniyah fields while still complying with the notam (directive). Yet, we parked (at great expense) our leased helicopters for over a month out of sheer incompetence and told corporate management that the only way to operate again was to transition to GACA. This was an unequivocal lie.
For context, we were FAA Part 91 for decades which was a God-send to this company as it allowed us to fly adaptively in a very dynamic environment. When the fire happened at the radium tower, when shaybah/abqaiq were attacked we were able to respond quickly bc of this freedom. Now, we’ve landed ourselves inside of the political spiderweb known as GACA. Why? We gain absolutely nothing and now have far more restrictions placed upon us - we are no longer an adaptive organization bc of this. We have more restrictive visibility requirements which decreases flights available and increases flight delays, we operate on temporary airman certificates bc GACA only has one pilot examiner for the whole country and refuses to authorize any others, we can no longer operate at night, and they will now charge us ramp fees at our own installations. The craziest thing is that their representatives have insinuated that we would all have to start from the bottom and re-take our exams in order to obtain a GACA certificate to fly. This is the equivalent of asking a medical doctor (PhD) to start over and re-sit all of his/her exams in order to practice medicine again. Of course, this is about them collecting money from us which is great for GACA, terrible for Aramco though.
Also, the SAR unit created in response to the tower incident (a CEO directive) is non-existent - even the Saudi captain who stood it up and organized everything was relieved from his position by this manager simply bc he had a good working relationship with the previous one. The NVGs which are considered DOD sensitive items all have expired inspection dates and we have nobody to inspect them for us, making them unusable. The rescue swimmers have been fired and we have just two remaining to do the job, and they’re planning to leave shortly. Literally, there is only a SAR unit on paper and this was orchestrated by the existing manager in order to save money and to make himself look good as a result.
Ultimately, if anybody sees this and really cares about what’s happening within aviation, then please (by all means) send someone down to speak with us vs. listening to a singular manager and his staff that clearly have an agenda. You’ll unanimously find expats and Saudis alike that are on the same page regarding these issues. I’m saying this as someone with just over 30 years combined military/civil experience who truly appreciates this department, and the camaraderie found with our hardworking Saudi brothers - the problem isn’t with them, it’s coming from a very incompetent manager who is wrecking everything.
And what a shame it is, been around since the 1940s and is (was) the world’s oldest privately held aviation company. A lot of history for which every Saudi and expat should be immensely proud of too.
All gone.