MOSTLY HARMLESS said.......
A friend on the top WJ captain scale recently showed me a copy of his first pay stub of 2018. After taxes, ESP deductions, etc. it was a whopping $2100. So after putting in a 27 year career you can look forward to pulling in a little over 2 grand per pay cheque.
You're suggesting that Swoop will pay 50% less than this? I've seen the pay scales, and I don't see how it's possible (even in the high tax regime that is Canada) that you'll only end up with $1,050 per month. I don't dispute that the pay will be less, neither do I think it advances the argument to overdramatize the facts. You've also detailed the long road to the "top" in Westjet, so clearly some will see this as a shortcut to some decent money, and will no doubt fill the seats.
It is a fact that the management will attempt to keep the cost base in the new airline low. It is after all a ULCC model. Some of that savings will come at the expense of the employees (pilots included), and some will come at the expense of the passengers, who will be crammed in with an unbearable seat pitch, and will have to endure being nicked and dimed for things now considered basic.
Citing Jetstar as a success that they aim to duplicate is a bit strange. Absolutely, they were set up as a union buster, but I don't think they are ULCC - stand to be corrected. There are many other full service airlines that attempted to house a lower cost model within the same group that failed. They have proven, more often than not, to be a cancer to the mainline. And, if they really wanted to pick an analogy that the Canadian passenger/shareholder/investor could relate to, then why not cite Rouge?