Rank: Social Excellence 

Score: 97%

Topping the ranking in this second edition of the Airline’s Social Rating and succeeding in increasing its already enviable rating, it is hard to find a group of pilots that is prouder of its airline! 

Starting service in 1919, KLM is one of only a few airlines to have celebrated a centennial. The airline seems to reflect the typical Dutch attitude of getting the job done, regardless of the size of the job because it transports more passengers than the total number of Dutch citizens.

KLM pilots award their airline the badge of Social Excellence, with top marks all round reflecting how, traditionally, the airline gets very little ‘bad press’ regarding the treatment of its pilots and its employment practices. 

KLM and the Dutch Pilots’ Union VNV enjoy a constructive bargaining relationship, with differences usually being settled at the negotiations table. 

Rank: Social Excellence 

Score: 94%

Air France ranks number 2 out of all rated airlines, with pilots providing numerous positive statements, and sharing very concrete examples about what social responsibility really means – an airline providing a career path, promoting equal opportunities, fair pay, decent working conditions and work-life balance to top it off.

The long list qualities highlighted by pilots earns the French flag carrier the status of Social Excellence, despite it losing the number 1 spot.

A large proportion of Air France pilots are unionised and share deep corporate values, they are therefore actively involved in the preservation of the employment terms and conditions.

Rank: Social Excellence 

Score: 92%

The flag carrier of Iceland was established in 1937, it is headquartered at Keflavik International airport and serves destinations on either side of the Atlantic. They have specialised in the one-stop Atlantic crossing, with Iceland being ideally situated between Europe and North America.

Through turbulent times such as the financial crisis, the coronavirus pandemic and the occasional volcanic eruption, Icelandair has proven to be a resilient organisation. 

Icelandair has received top scores on the measured metrics by its pilots and has attained the level of ‘Social Excellence’. Nevertheless, feedback from pilots highlights fatiguing rostering practices.

Rank: Social Excellence 

Score: 91%

As a pillar of social responsibility and strong employer-union cooperation, Widerøe has earned itself the status of ‘Social Excellence’, landing in the top 5. Widerøe is the largest regional airline in the Nordics and vital to communities in Northern Norway. 

In recent developments, Norwegian Air’s acquisition of the airline marks a significant development in the Norwegian aviation sector. Though Widerøe is expected to continue to operate as an independent company, it remains to be seen whether this take over will have any impact on employee satisfaction in the future.

For now pilots are especially happy with social conditions and the working environment at Widerøe. It may however be worth noting that challenging arctic winter short-field operations in mountainous terrain with 10 minute turn-arounds means quite an effort for moderate pay, compared to some larger carriers.

Rank: Social Excellence

Score: 90%

Transavia Airlines, which covers the Dutch low-cost carrier and its eponymous French subsidiary, is part of the Air France-KLM Group.

Compared to other low-cost airlines, there are very few indications of serious labour conflicts at Transavia and the airline achieves a rating in line with the other airlines of the Air France-KLM group, adding it to the list of European airlines under ‘Social Excellence’. 

Achieving the highest score for a low-cost airline, Transavia demonstrates that being a low-cost carrier and a responsible employer doesn’t need to be a contradiction. This is reflected in the positive comments received from its pilots. 

Rank: Social Excellence

Score: 86%

Condor is one of the largest leisure airlines in Germany. Condor operates a fleet of over 50 aircraft to many destinations in Europe, Africa and North America. In recent years, Condor has managed to overcome two situations that threatened its existence: the insolvency of Thomas Cook AG and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The main reason for Condor’s continued existence was the high level of identification of all Condor employees with the company and the very good employee-labour relationship. Condor’s cockpit crew trust the management and were prepared to make concessions through Collective Labour Agreements. Condor seems like a family, with everything that goes with it.

Against this background, and despite a drop in the overall satisfaction of its pilots, it is no surprise that Condor is still in the top 10 airlines of the social ranking.

Rank: Social Excellence

Score: 84%

The Austrian flag carrier, which joined the Lufthansa Group in 2009 has had a turbulent history in many areas, including labour relations. 

While enjoying a good customer reputation, the ’Social Excellence’ airline scores less well in the area of work-life balance and despite a top 10 finish clearly has some trust to rebuild with its pilots following the latest dispute over pay improvements.

Rank: Social Excellence

Score: 84%

TAP is the State-owned airline of Portugal, founded in 1945. Its ownership past is long and complex with several passages back and forth between private hands and State hands. The airline has also faced many restructuring challenges over the years.

Boosting its satisfaction score by a whopping 15 % and an overall score of 84, TAP joins the leaders in ‘Social Excellence’. What is the secret behind this achievement? 

Comments received point towards a change in management which may be behind improvements, demonstrating that a company can undergo restructuring efforts to improve profitability and operational efficiency while keeping good employee relations.

The question remains whether the airline will be able to keep morale up even after it passes back to private hands.

Rank: Social Excellence

Score: 84%

Lufthansa is by far the largest German airline by total number of passengers carried, by number of destinations served and by fleet size. The airline has concluded a wide range of different collective labour agreements with Vereinigung Cockpit (VC, German Airline Pilots’ Association), which regulate the pay and working conditions of Lufthansa’s cockpit crews.

The high standard of those conditions has been repeatedly subject of industrial disputes in the past 20 years and the union reports that the airline has tried to use the crisis triggered by COVID-19 to demand substantial concessions from all its employees. These hard and long conflicts have put a strain on the partnership between employee representatives and management.

Against this background, Lufthansa scores remarkably well in terms of contractual agreements, while employee-labour relationship and work-life balance scores are significantly lower. Although Lufthansa ranks overall in the “Social Excellence” category, quite a few comments are negative.

Rank: Social Excellence

Score: 82%

Vueling Airlines is a Spanish low-cost Carrier, with its primary hub located at Barcelona Airport. As part of the IAG group, it is a mobile company that can gain and expand ground in territories throughout Europe that are of strategic value to the IAG expansion plans. 

Despite recent turmoil in certain of its territories, Vueling scores high on the European Airlines Social Ratings Survey, landing in the ‘Social Excellence’ group with an overall score of 82. 

However, the lower Work-Life Balance score of just 64, helped to bring the overall score down slightly. Some comments may help to explain the reason behind this.

Ranks: Social Excellence

Score: 81%

New to the ranking, SunClass Airlines was set up in 2019 after the collapse of the Thomas Cook Group, taking over charter services in the Nordics. The Danish airline has gradually grown into its own branding and continues to establish itself as a reliable partner for holidaymakers. 

SunClass Airlines scores well overall, landing in the Social Excellence category. Scoring in the top 80% for both labour-employee relations and contractual arrangements, employee satisfaction and work-life balance is where the company could bring some improvements.

Comments received are overall positive though some point to a possible downgrading of conditions in the future.

Ranks: Social Excellence

Score: 81%

Eurowings Europe was established as a Low Cost Carrier by Lufthansa, initially based out of Vienna, to operate a regional European network. In 2022, Lufthansa applied for an air operator's certificate (AOC) in Malta, for a new company named Eurowings Europe Limited. The Maltese branch took over operations from Eurowings Europe in Austria, transferring all aircraft and crew. The carrier's Austrian AOC was returned to Austrian authorities. 

While any transfer to Malta raises flags of concern with unions, so far, it appears that Eurowings Europe has successfully positioned itself as an attractive employer, with the airline recently celebrating over 5.000 staff members and continued expansion.

With an overall score of 81% and a position in the ‘Social Excellence’ category, there is nevertheless room for improvement when it comes to contractual agreements with e.g. a lack of transparent redundancy criteria being highlighted in responses received.

Rank: Social Excellence 

Score: 80%

Cargolux – an all-Cargo airline – serves a global network airline from its hub located in Luxembourg, relying heavily on employing pilots from other countries, resulting in a multinational workforce and cultural diversity.

With past negotiations having only being positively resolved following strike actions, pilots currently place their airline in the ‘Social Excellence’ category, with high marks all-round, especially for contractual arrangements.

The comments received reveal an overall good atmosphere. Despite a good rating, flight roster stability remains an issue and there are some concerns regarding employment practices that need monitoring.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 78%

One of Europe’s low-cost giants, easyJet has seen continued growth since its inception. With multiple AOCs to cover its UK, Swiss and European market needs, easyJet operates out of many major European destinations.

Scores in all categories are, overall, pretty good. However, on par with the trend in the Social Rating, a slight decline is to be noted on the total satisfaction score of pilots. This has unfortunately led to easyJet losing its Social Excellence crown and is now rated as ‘Social Partner’.

Comments from pilots vary, with some feeling easyJet to be a great, long term career choice and some pointing out that improvements would be welcome, especially on pay and rostering.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 77%

TUI Group is known for its comprehensive range of services in the travel industry. Employing approximately 50,000 people globally, TUI is one of the largest and most integrated tourism companies in the world. This workforce includes pilots within five airlines.

Comments received demonstrate how industrial relations vary across the Group. The Scores for contractual agreements and employee-labour relationship remain high. There is room for improvement when it comes to work-life balance. 

Falling below the Social Excellence threshold due to a decline in its overall satisfaction rate lands TUI in the category of ‘Social Partner’.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 77

Another newcomer to this edition is Portugalia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Portuguese flag carrier TAP Air Portugal. The airline operates chartered service on behalf of its parent, mainly to domestic destinations and nearby international destinations. 

In general, pilots are happy working in this airline which reaches the rank of ‘Social Partner’.

 The few comments received mainly look to address the growth restrictions imposed on Portugalia and achieving comparable conditions to other pilots in the TAP group. 

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 76%

Finland’s flag carrier is the sixth oldest airline in continuous operation and enjoys a status as one of the safest airlines in the world. Finnair is majority-owned by the Finnish government, which holds around 55% of shares.

Finnair ranks as a ‘social partner’ airline and scores very highly for labour relations and contractual agreement, although work-life balance is markedly lower. 

Comments illustrate concerns on how genuine management really are when it comes to social dialogue and the pressure put on existing collective agreements.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 75%

The Finnish regional airline trading as Norra began operations in 2011. It has been through several changes of ownership since then and was previously known as Flybe Nordic. Finnair owns 40% of the company and it has a stable operation out of Helsinki’s Vantaa airport. It is nevertheless worth pointing out that Danish Air Transport (DAT) is the majority shareholder.

Norra’s score has taken a significant hit, down to a 75% overall satisfaction rating where it was previously standing proud with 91%. The hit is especially noticeable in the employee satisfaction and work-life balance category. 

Now landing in ‘Social Partner’ territory, feedback from pilots is generally less positive and still points towards high workload.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 75%

Aer Lingus is one of the oldest legacy carriers still operating in Europe and was privatised in 2006. Aer Lingus has made a tough transition from being an outdated semi-state run company to a highly competitive international leader, mainly due to the constant and explosive growth of its closest neighbour, Ryanair. 

The airline has traditionally had a healthy relationship with the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA), however, both parties have needed to adapt with the ever-changing market, even before the Covid crisis.

Feedback received from pilot reflects the recent long-run of tensions between Aer Lingus management and its pilots. With a loss of 12% in overall satisfaction rate, the consequence is a rank change down to Social Partner, where the airline previously held the Social Excellence badge.

Aer Lingus scores well in terms of Employee-Labour Relationship, less in Contractual Agreements, while Work-Life Balance scores are even lower than the two other categories. Recurring topics from comments received include bad work life balance, difficulties in obtaining part-time arrangements even with long seniority years of service, as well as mistakes occurring in applying agreements in place.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 75%

Iberia is the flag carrier airline of Spain, headquartered in Madrid. It is part of the International Airlines Group (IAG), which also includes British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Vueling. Founded in 1927, Iberia has a long history and has been a significant player in the aviation industry, both in Spain and internationally, and like most legacy carriers, has a long history of cooperation with Unions, notably SEPLA. 

The airline generally gets positive feedback although many pilots who commented highlight a sentiment that the company is not providing appropriate pay. Iberia scores in the high percentile in terms of Contractual Agreements. However, Work-Life Balance is considerably below the other two markers.

Finally, Iberia loses its ‘Social Excellence’ ranking in the Social Rating Survey due to an almost 10% decline in overall satisfaction. 

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 74%

The Irish based ASL (Aircraft, Support & Leasing) Aviation Holdings is a fast-growing leasing and services group, with a number of its companies based around Europe. Since its establishment, ASL has reportedly maintained an inconsistent attitude to recognise or co-operate with some pilot unions, with the airline nevertheless dealing with established worker representation in Belgium and in France. 

This situation has encouraged some pilot groups to apply for a EWC (European Works Council), an avenue whereby pilots in different countries can communicate together and with the company more effectively, a step in a positive direction towards union recognition. In the survey, ASL reached the status of a ‘Social Partner’. 

ASL’s moderate employee labour relationship score is a reflection of this need for better communication and cooperation between pilots and management. ASL’s Contractual Agreements and its Work-Life Balance scores are better and the overall satisfaction score has increased since the last rating.

The feedback from pilots seems mixed, some are happy with the working environment but generally the feeling is that the cooperation between the pilots and management could be improved.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 73%

The UK’s legacy carrier, British Airways, operates a mix of short and long-haul operations, and is the UK’s largest pilot employer.

It has long been unionised and is, overall, a reasonable company in terms of industrial relations although changes over the past few years have tested this to an extent. Pilots feel that the company embarrassed itself with the threat to pilots (and other staff) of ‘fire and rehire’ in response to Covid-19, although the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) avoided this through its negotiations. 

BA ranks in the ‘Social Partner’ category, with extremely strong feedback about contractual agreements, with slightly weaker responses on work-life balance. It is however to be noted that the airline’s overall satisfaction score has dropped. 

Comments are mostly positive, including praise for current management, but concerns exist about degrading terms and conditions.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 73%

Founded on the ashes of Belgian flag carrier Sabena, Brussels Airlines is one of the siblings in the Lufthansa Group family. And like others in the family, the airline was also recently facing disgruntlement from staff in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis concessions.

Finally, having dropped by 5%, the airline should really “go the extra smile”, especially when it comes to work-life balance aspects if it hopes to one day grow from its status of Social Partner to Social Excellence. 

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 70%

Irish carrier, CityJet operates wet-leasing and charter flights for various European carriers. Like other counterparts registered on the Emerald Isle, the airline has had a colourful history with unions.

In 2020,  CityJet underwent major restructuring and examinership which was followed by a shift in operations to Copenhagen. Today, only the airline’s administrative base remains in Dublin, while aircraft and crews are based in Denmark and Sweden to provide wet-lease to client airlines.

Scoring lower in the Employee Satisfaction & Work-life Balance category, as well as for Employee-Labour relationship, CityJet lands overall in ‘Social Partner’, a drop in comparison with the previous edition of the ‘Social Rating’. A drop in satisfaction which is also reflected in some of the comments received.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 70%

Flying since 1947, SATA Air Açores is a regional airline based in the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. The carrier operates passenger, cargo and mail services on an extensive regional network to destinations across the nine islands of the archipelago. The airline is part of the SATA Group which has expanded from intra-Azores routes only, into transatlantic flights when it opened Azores Airlines in 1990.

For its entry into the ranking of the Social Rating, the all-turboprop fleet airline is welcomed into the ‘Social Partner’ category. SATA Air Açores Employee satisfaction and work-life balance scores are well below pilot expectations compared with the other indicators. 

Testimonies received express concern about the airline’s future and a downgrading in relations with employees.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 68%

Luxair is the flag carrier of Luxembourg connecting the Grand-Duchy with the rest of Europe. Like most legacy carriers, Luxair has a long-standing union representation and a Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) is in place since 1981. However, representing pilot-specific interests can be challenging due to the way airline workers‘ representation is set up under Luxembourg’s labour law.

Now ranked as ‘Social Partner’, Luxair has had to hand over its ‘Social Excellence’ badge following a loss of 19% in overall satisfaction reported by pilots. It appears the main culprit of this decline are rostering practices.

Furthermore, many comments received from pilots taking part in the Social Rating survey indicate that the lasting crisis management methods, coupled with a new management, has resulted in a growing fear that long-standing agreements between the staff and Luxair might deteriorate.  

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 66%

Norwegian Air Shuttle was founded in 1993 as a regional carrier in Norway. After becoming a low-cost airline in 2002, a massive expansion followed, covering bases across Europe and advancing into intercontinental low-cost long haul. The company’s overleverage became clear as the coronavirus pandemic hit and brought the operation, and its cashflow, to a standstill. 

After bankruptcy and examinership processes in Norway and Ireland, a restructured Norwegian has emerged, focusing on the Scandinavian countries and Finland. In recent developments, Norwegian has reopened its Spanish bases and expanded there, as well as further afield, in Latvia, with Riga being the latest addition to its network.  

Managing to maintain its ‘Social Partner’ status, and looking like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the question remains whether its pilots trust the airline has learned from past shortcomings, especially regarding social responsibility. 

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 65%

Founded in 1946 by the national airlines of Denmark, Norway and Sweden as the consortium Scandinavian Airlines System, the trinational flag carrier SAS has historically been a frontrunner in service and technology innovation and the gold standard for terms and conditions and social responsibility in Scandinavia.

While the company delivered strong financial results for several years prior to the pandemic, labour relations have been deteriorating at an ever-increasing rate since SAS set up subsidiaries (SAS Connect & SAS Link) and in-house staffing agencies and then filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. 

Building on a long history of social responsibility, SAS scores quite highly on key social indicators but greatly falls short when it comes to employee satisfaction and work-life balance.

The recurring theme amongst respondents is that that agreements are being breached, unions are being marginalized and trust in management is at rock bottom.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 65%

Formerly known as Eurowings Discover, the wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa was rebranded as Discover Airlines in 2023. The German leisure airline serves destinations around the Mediterranean, North America, Africa and the Caribbean from its bases at Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport. 

This is the airline’s first appearance in the Social Rating, reaching an overall satisfaction score of 65%, making it a ‘Social Partner’. 

Discover Airlines scores extremely poorly on the Employee-Labour relationship, no doubt highlighting recent woes between management and employees over failed collective bargaining negotiations during which the airline sought to curtail the right to strike. 

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 63%

SAS Connect (formerly SAS Ireland) is an Irish subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). The airline exclusively operates flights on behalf of SAS with a fleet of Airbus A320neo aircraft. 

Management has always been open about the reasons behind the airline’s creation: to cut staffing costs and bypass unions in mainline SAS. Crew are hired through the intermediary CAE and an in-house agency to operate out of SAS Connect’s bases in London Heathrow, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. This mixed history lands the airline in the ‘Social Partner’ category.

SAS Connect’s score in Employee Satisfaction and work-life balance is particularly low, at just 48%. Comments received from pilots highlight concerns with the business model and scars left by Covid.

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 61%

Italia Trasporto Aereo, trading as ITA Airways, is the flag carrier of Italy. The airline commenced services in 2021 and replaced previous flag carrier, Alitalia.

Following in the footsteps of its predecessor’s complicated history of restructurings, ITA had a complicated launch after failing to attract a private acquirer. The currently state owned airline has just received approval by the European Commission for the Lufthansa Group to take a 41% stake in it, including the possibility to acquire the remaining shares. The transaction is expected to close at the end of 2024.

Comparing with the satisfaction rate of Alitalia in 2021, this edition of the Social Rating shows a slight decline at ITA despite the airline maintaining its ‘Social Partner’ badge. 

Rank: Social Partner

Score: 60%

Virgin Atlantic maintains a high profile around the world and operates a long-haul network out of the UK. Known for its distinctive brand, Virgin has had very longstanding industry leading terms and conditions, and contractual agreements, between management and pilots. 

However, current pilot comments point to degrading terms following the Covid-19 pandemic. Transparency when it comes to redundancy criteria is also a low point. 

With deteriorating satisfaction and ranking overall as a ‘Social Partner’, there is room for improvement – especially in the field of employee satisfaction & work-life balance.

Rank: Social Snail

Score: 60%

Founded in 1989, Croatia Airlines is the national carrier of the Republic of Croatia and is wholly-owned by the Croatian Government. The airline’s main hub is Zagreb and operates domestic and European routes.  

The fact that Croatia Airlines has been relegated to the status of ‘Social Snail’ may reflect the recent long stretch in negotiations that took place to establish a new Collective Labour Agreement. 

Both the Contractual Agreements and the Employee satisfaction and work-life balance indexes deserve attention if Croatia Airlines hopes to get back on tract to being a ‘Social Partner’. Areas that staff no doubt will have tried to address in the latest agreement.

Rank: Social Snail

Score: 59%

DHL Group is a major postal and communications service provider headquartered in Bonn, Germany. DHL Aviation which comprises, among others, European Air Transport Leipzig and  DHL Air UK,  is a division that operates an extensive global network of air cargo services, with each airline being responsible for specific regions and routes. 

With conditions varying across this extensive network, and recent discussions around representation rights for its Austrian AOC, DHL lands in the category of ‘Social Snail’ achieving an overall satisfaction rate of 59%. 

According to responses received, the area of Employee-Labour Relationship is the one that requires most attention. Comments received confirm this result and also highlight a challenging working environment.

Rank: Social Snail

Score: 58%

Air Dolomiti is an all Embraer Italian regional airline. It is a member of the Lufthansa Group, primarily focused on linking Italian cities to the Frankfurt and Munich Lufthansa hubs. Unlike other Lufthansa Regional subsidiaries that operate under their parent's name and colours, Air Dolomiti retains its own identity.

In 2021’s Social Rating, Air Dolomiti had reached Social Excellence, this edition, however, sees the airline plummeting to Social Snail, having lost a whopping 37% in satisfaction among its pilots. How come? Air Dolomiti has lost points in all categories but it’s the Employee Satisfaction and Work-life Balance that has taken the biggest hit. 

As highlighted in recent negotiations, pilots are looking for long overdue recognition and improvement of terms and conditions. 

Rank: Social Snail

Score: 53%

airBaltic is the Flag Carrier of Latvia and operates out of its main hub in Riga. Nevertheless, it would also be fair to call airBaltic a transnational airline, considering its bases in Tallinn, Vilnius, Tampere, as well as a seasonal base in Las Palmas, which the airline launched in 2023.

In recent years, airBaltic, which operates solely A220s, has been wet-leasing its aircraft to the Lufthansa Group and has been eyeing an entry into the Stock Exchange, though the timing of the IPO has already slipped on several occasions.  

Achieving the status of Social Snail, comments received illustrate the business changes of the last years and raise concerns about lifestyle at the airline, most notably relating to the wet-leasing side of operations. 

Rank: Social Snail

Score: 51%

BRA is a Swedish carrier operating mainly domestic routes but also scheduled and charter services to destinations across Europe. The airline, which prides itself in its sustainability initiatives, has recently completed its restructuring process. 

In swedish, "BRA" means good. But unfortunately for the airline, it’s overall satisfaction among pilots falls short of that with a score of only 51%.

Being a ‘Social Snail’, comments received point to a complex business structure and some concerns about the future. 

Rank: Social Snail

Score: 51%

Created in 2019, Ryanair’s sister company was set up to enable crews based in Italy, France and Germany to pay income tax where they actually work, something the Irish authorities would not facilitate. Ever since, the airline has been expanding its route network and fleet, maintaining a strong presence in various European countries, including Italy, Germany, France, and most recently, Romania.

Considering the transfer to Malta Air took place in close cooperation with unions in those countries, it’s easy to see why the airline ranks higher than any other in the Ryanair Group in all categories and overall. 

Nevertheless, the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, with pilots reporting similar issues as in mainline Ryanair such as not fully valuing its employees and reaching Flight Time Limitations targets.

This mixed picture brings Malta Air to the status of Social Snail. 

Rank: Social Snail

Score: 44%

The Spanish low-cost carrier Volotea was established in 2011 and has 21 bases in five countries (Spain, Greece, Italy, France and Germany) and is set for fleet growth in coming years. 

Volotea has long been known for its very low pay entry level for aspiring airline pilots, and based on the feedback, little has changed over a decade of operation.

The airline has attained the status of ‘Social Snail’ and comments from pilots point to conditions being base dependent, yet disturbingly poor across the company. Another area of concern is transparency when it comes to transfers and upgrades. 

Rank: Social Snail

Score: 42%

Irish Low-Cost carrier Ryanair is most famous for its boisterous, CEO Michael O’Leary who once stated that hell would freeze over before the airline would recognise unions. Michael O’Leary has since moved on to become the Ryanair Group’s CEO but based on feedback from survey respondents, it would appear that Ryanair’s methods remain largely unchanged.

It is to be noted that Ryanair has increased its overall satisfaction rating and even been bumped up from Social Misfit to Social Snail.

“Europe’s Number 1 favourite airline” scores highest in the employee-labour relationship category. Pilots commend the airline’s training standards but there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to employee engagement and putting people before profits.

Rank: Social Misfit

Score: 39%

Turkish Airlines is the national airline of Türkiye and operates an impressive network of domestic and regional services throughout Türkiye and the Middle East and international services to Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Asia. Furthermore, the airline, which is already one of the biggest in Europe and the Middle East, looks poised for global supremacy with latest aircraft orders and expansion plans. Turkish Airlines is a state-owned company. 

When it comes to the employee satisfaction, it appears major work still needs to be done as the airline lands top of the ‘Social Misfit’ category, having further dropped from the ‘Social Snail’ badge it held in the 2021 edition of the Social Rating. With consistently poor results in all three categories, especially in terms of satisfaction and work-life balance.

*Note: the union is not the ECA Member TALPA.

Rank: Social Misfit

Score: 36%

LOT Polish Airlines is the national airline of Poland, majority-owned by the Polish Government and one of the world's oldest airlines in operation. 

In recent years, the airline faced a failed privatization attempt and has moved towards an increased implementation of so-called self-employed ‘B2B contracts’ (picture ride-sharing drivers, delivery drivers, etc.), a move that flight crew have fought to push back.

LOT joins those that have dropped a category and lands now as a ‘Social Misfit’, with scores on the Employee-Labour relationship sitting at an all-time low.

Rank: Social Misfit

Score: 35%

Another newcomer to the Social Rating, Wamos Air is a Spanish airline that was set up in 2003 to provide connections for travellers sailing on the group's cruise liners throughout the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Baltic and Adriatic seas. In recent years, Wamos Air has changed its focus, ending all scheduled services and solely providing ACMI and charter services.

Based on feedback received, pilots describe a union-hostile work environment with poor work-life balance and little satisfaction. This not so pretty picture means Wamos Air hangs in the ‘Social Misfit’ Category.

Rank: Social Misfit

Score: 35%

The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air has a longstanding anti-union reputation, with CEO József Váradi admitting the airline keeps unions out on purpose. The airline has no CLA and outside Eastern European bases relies heavily on contractor pilots, mostly self-employed via an agency in the Netherlands.  

Its extremely low score on the employee-labour relationships is a good reflection of the general perception that exists, with Váradi himself admitting the action of dismissing 250 pilots at the beginning of the COVID crisis has hit morale. Not to mention the unfair and ambiguous criteria that was used such as personal preferences of managers, sick leave records, or refusal to perform ‘Captain’s Discretion’ (i.e. flying beyond the legal flight time limits).

Pilots at Wizz rate the work-life balance as extremely low. On a positive note, many indicate that Wizz Air is a good place to start one’s career.
 
Nevertheless, this does little for the general reputation and retention motivation of the airline, which rates overall as a ‘Social Misfit’. 

Rank: Social Misfit

Score: 35%

Once more Austrian than Schnitzel, since being bought by Ryanair, Lauda has little to do with its founder’s home country. In fact, the airline no longer has a base in Vienna, has moved to Malta, added ‘Europe’ to its name and is used for intra Ryanair group wet-leasing.

While having slightly improved its score since the previous edition of the Social Rating, possibly thanks to some union engagement at its Balearic base, there is definitely still much room for improvement. 

Considering the quotes from Lauda pilots, it is self-explanatory as to why the airline still ranks as Social Misfit. 

Rank: Social Misfit

Score: 33%

Air Atlanta Icelandic is a charter and ACMI airline specialising in leasing aircraft on an ACMI (Aircraft, Crews, Maintenance, Insurance) and wet lease basis to airlines worldwide needing extra passenger and cargo capacity.

Fun fact: Air Atlanta Icelandic bought a B747 from Air France destined to become Ed Force One, the aircraft used by legendary English rock band Iron Maiden for their 2016 world tour. 

While in the previous edition of the Social Rating the airline ranked in the Social Partner category, the situation seems to have significantly deteriorated as Air Atlanta now only reaches the rank of ‘Social Misfit’. Nevertheless, the airline performs better when it comes to Employee Satisfaction and Work-life balance than in the indicators of contractual arrangements and employee-labour relations.

In their feedback, pilots highlight different employment types at the airline, creating a feeling of injustice and unfair treatment.

Rank: Social Misfit

Score: 31%

Don’t get confused, Smartwings has nothing to do with Smartlynx. This Czech airline, which is making its first appearance in the Social Rating of European Airlines, used to be called Travel Service and is a low cost airline including subsidiaries Smartwings Poland, Smartwings Slovakia and Smartwings Hungary. The airline is also an owner of flag carrier Czech Airlines, which will end its flight operations in October 2024, handing them over to Smartwings, while being repurposed into a holding company for both airlines.

With scores at rock bottom on the Employee-Labour relationship responses, overall satisfaction and work-life balance reaching just 24% and contractual agreements not quite achieving a pass, Smartwings deserves its spot in the ‘Social Misfit’ category.

Looking at the comments received, there is much to be done when it comes to company and just culture.

Rank: Social Misfit

Score: 26%

Avion Express is another piece of the ACMI mogul Avia Solutions Group puzzle (the company owns twelve AOC-certified airlines). 

Avion Express has an Air Operators Certificate and a homonym subsidiary with an AOC in Malta and is due to further expand into Brazil and Latin America with a new AOC planned for 2024. Avion Express performs charter flights and provides ACMI services to client carriers and is growing at a tremendous pace.

On the social side, things aren’t looking so peachy, though the airline has moved up from ‘Social Junk’ to ‘Social Misfit’. Both Employee-Labour and contractual arrangements scores remain extremely low, while employee satisfaction and work-life balance indicators have slightly improved.

Rank: Social Misfit

Score: 23%

Since its launch in 2019, Ryanair Group’s Polish subsidiary Buzz has made its reputation for its self-employment practices. Headquartered in Warsaw, the airline operates primarily out of Poland, Czechia, Bulgaria, as well as an interesting dual base concept in Vienna/Bratislava.

With the teething period now over, the question to be answered is ‘has pilot satisfaction at the airline improved?’ Well… No… To the contrary in fact, with Buzz finishing second to last in the ranking with an overall satisfaction rate of just 23%.

The airline has no CLA or engagement with crew representatives, and doing little better in the other categories, Buzz remains with the Social Misfits. 

Rank: Social Junk

Score: 20%

Latvian wet-lease specialist Smartlynx Airlines manages to fly relatively under the radar despite its more than questionable social practices. A number of pilots are hired through a crewing agency based in Dubai, conveniently by-passing EU rules.

In recent times, the airline’s remarkable growth and future ambitions translate the reality that wet-lease is on the rise with potential serious social consequences.

Finishing last of the airlines in Europe when it comes to the Social Rating with an overall score of 20, respondents also flag the low pay and little planning stability at SmartLynx. Nevertheless, the carrier does better in the category employee satisfaction & work-life balance. But that’s not enough to prevent Smartlynx from being number 1… in ‘Social Junk’.

While ECA has taken reasonable steps to ensure to the extent possible and to the best of its knowledge that the information contained in the survey on which the present report is based is reliable, the content of the Report must always be read together with the section of the Report explaining the Survey methodology. The reader must consider the limitations of the Methodology and their impact on the relevance and accuracy of the Survey results.

Neither the Report nor the information on which it is based represent the views or opinions of ECA of its principals or its employees.

Any person or entity shall use and interpret the Report and the information included therein and shall draw any conclusions from the Report or the said information in his own discretion at his own risk and responsibility.
 

Read full legal disclaimer