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#1 TAP, Lisbon, and I have close friends at easyJet Lisbon and Ryanair Porto, so the Portuguese applicant's comparison of the three deserves a thread, because the TAP thread exists and the other two do not from the Portuguese side.
easyJet Lisbon and Porto
easyJet Europe's Portuguese bases, A320 family, a network to the UK (heavily), France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Portuguese islands. A Portuguese employment contract under Portuguese law with the easyJet structure (basic, sector pay, commission) in euros. The crew are mostly Portuguese with Brazilians and other nationalities who have the right to work. Portuguese is required for the announcements; English is the operational language.
The pay
The Portuguese contract numbers are below the UK and Swiss easyJet bases, comparable to TAP's new joiner net on a summer month and below it on a winter month, and above Ryanair Portugal's agency contract in year one. Lisbon rent is the problem for all three. The easyJet crew say the sector pay in summer is good and the winter is thin, which is the low cost pattern.
Ryanair Porto and Lisbon
Ryanair's Portuguese bases on Malta Air contracts (Liam's thread), often through an agency in year one, with the conversion later. Lower basic, sector pay, commission, the Ryanair pace. The Porto base is big and the Lisbon base is growing. The Portuguese crew who go to Ryanair go for the fast hiring and the hours, and a lot of them come to TAP or easyJet after two years.
TAP
The legacy option: the SNPVAC collective agreement, the long haul to Brazil, Africa and North America, the seniority system, the slower hiring waves, and the identity. The new joiner net is tight in Lisbon and the long haul allowances are the story. TAP hires Portuguese and Brazilians with the right to work, in waves tied to the summer.
How Portuguese applicants choose
Most apply to all three. Ryanair answers fastest, easyJet next, TAP slowest. The crew who want long haul wait for TAP. The crew who want to fly now take easyJet or Ryanair and reapply to TAP with hours. The crew who want a Portuguese contract with a UK style structure take easyJet. The crew who want the training ground take Ryanair. All three are real airlines with real Portuguese crews.
For Brazilians with the Portuguese passport
All three hire you. TAP knows the Brazilian crew well. easyJet Lisbon has a growing Brazilian group. Ryanair Portugal takes anyone with the EU right to work. The accent is not an issue anywhere; the paperwork is everything.
The Lisbon rent, again
Every Portuguese cabin crew thread ends here. Share in the first two years at all three. The crew who live alone in Lisbon in year one are the ones on the payslip mistake threads.
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#2 TAP, and João's comparison is fair to all three. The Ryanair Porto to TAP path is real: two of my crew did it and the hours made their assessment. The Lisbon rent ending is the correct ending for every Portuguese thread.
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#3 Porto, TAP application in, Ryanair Porto as plan B, and this thread has just turned plan B into a plan. Two years of hours, then TAP with a record. Thank you for writing the three side by side.
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#4 Brazilian at TAP, and the 'accent is not an issue, the paperwork is everything' line is the Brazilian truth in Portugal. The passport is the door. Nothing else matters at the desk.
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#5 Lisbon, 23, restaurant, TAP and Ryanair Lisbon this winter, and easyJet was not on my list because I did not know it had a Portuguese contract. Now it is. Three applications.
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#6 easyJet Geneva, and the Lisbon base crew who position through Geneva describe exactly this: the Portuguese contract, the UK routes, the thin winter. The continental easyJet bases each have their own country and Lisbon is the sunniest and the poorest paid.
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#7 Ryanair Bergamo, and the Portuguese bases are the same Malta Air story as the Italian ones: agency in year one, conversion later, ask which contract. João has it right.
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#8 Transavia, and the Transavia Portugal bases exist too, small, and worth a line: French contract structure, Dutch airline, Lisbon and Porto to France. A fourth option for the Francophone Portuguese.
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#9 @bennyflies a fair addition and I forgot Transavia. Four options, then, and the same rent at the end of each.
