S/Os at QF are hired purely for augmented crew flying over longer routes. I guess it’s just the cheapest way to do it and when things are moving, new hires have a chance to get a window seat fairly shortly after joining (some even on day 1).
Originally Posted by
cessnapete
Chickoroll
Lack of sectors on Long Range trips sometimes requires the odd Sim to keep up recency, but not an insurmountable problem.
I think getting the odd sim is an insurmountable problem at the moment at QF. Qantas has been on the Jetstar back burner for over a decade and they have now found themselves so far behind in crewing numbers and training capacity that they are looking at almost 50% of type ratings being trained externally next year. This year they’ve managed to put 340 pilots through training courses and next year this is forecast to be around 600.