Originally Posted by
GS-Alpha
It does indeed cost money, but agreements cost money, as do salaries. Training will probably be a nightmare next year with lots of jumbos leaving and A350s arriving. Plenty of shorthaul FOs will be denied moves to long haul, but if I were a betting man, I would wager it will be because the vast majority of P350s will come from current 747 FOs.
Extra crews will be required for 4x 777-300 due to crewing ratio. At some stage fleet numbers will also have to be expanded above break even to account for arrival of 777-9 in 2021 timelines. My bet is both 78 and 77 will be overcrewed at some point to allow rapid re-training due to type similarities between 77/78 and 777-9. My guess is most of this will come from 747 and DEP, with a350 moves coming from SH. Cross training has to be much cheaper than a full type rating, both in training costs and salary.
Not sure whether there is a shorter course for 320/321 to 350 but if there is, costs alone indicate it makes sense for a shorter more productive course to be allocated?