A flight attendant turned ambulance worker has helped thousands with a support group for cabin crew affected by “devastating” job losses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Simon Costello said the crisis has had a “catastrophic” effect on the aviation industry as he watched “up to 70%” of his friends and former colleagues lose their jobs.
The 49-year-old, from Blyth, Northumberland, worked with Virgin Atlantic for 12 years before taking voluntary redundancy in 2009 to spend more time with his young family.
He has now been a clinical care assistant with the North East Ambulance Service in Alnwick for eight years.
When the pandemic hit, Simon’s wife went through three rounds of redundancies, and many of his friends lost their jobs altogether.
He and friend Trevor Jenkins decided to set up a Facebook group to offer support and encouragement to crew who had been made redundant, or were facing redundancy.
‘Not Just Crew’ is now a major support hub for cabin crew dealing with the effect of a collapsing aviation industry.
The group now is over 10,000 strong with crew from 90 different nationalities and more than 90 different airlines.
Simon and Trevor also release regular live shows, with what started out as a 40 minute ‘Zoom live’ speaking to 37 worried crew about the future of the aviation industry now consisting of two weekly shows and a growing YouTube Channel.
In less than a year, Simon Costello and Trevor over 700 crew members change careers, and in some cases, start their own companies.
Simon said: “We encourage people to post jobs, their own experiences, interview advice.
We also created a crew market we created for our members to buy and sell.
“It’s also about talking to people and keeping them as positive as can be.
“It gives people the realisation that they are not just crew - they can do so many more different things.”
Simon described the effect of the pandemic on the industry as “catastrophic - absolutely horrific”.
“Watching my friends lose their jobs after 20 years is heartbreaking - the mental stress and anger of it,” he said.
“Some have flown for 30 years and suddenly been cast aside - we have been there for them when there was nothing.”
Among those who have used the site is Louise Collins, from Whitley Bay, who was furloughed from her job with Virgin Atlantic during the first lockdown.
Although one of the lucky few to retain her job through several rounds of redundancies, Louise has been grounded for more than a year.
In October last year she was hired as a deputy manager at a Covid-19 vaccination site in Gateshead - a role that she will be able to keep as a second job while airlines ease back into business.
Louise, 51, said: “The company started making redundancies in September and it was just wave after wave. You keep thinking ‘are you next’, a lot of my friends and colleagues were getting made redundant.
“I was one of the lucky ones but it was a really bad time.
"I don’t like sitting at home all day, I want to be doing something.
“My friend was working on one of the Covid-19 sites and said the company were taking on a lot of cabin crew because of the way they are with customers.
“I hadn’t done a CV for 30 years, or an interview, so Not Just Crew was really helpful for support. It’s been a godsend.”
