Latest on DEC recruitment:
-Pilot Selection Manager resigns over directive from above to lower the EK standards (which are applied to every other Captain currently flying with EK) to recruit the numbers of DEC's dictated by management. My hat goes off to this individual for his integrity in dealing with this issue.
-gag order placed on the members of the recruitment department to not discuss the state of the current recruitment drive due to the number of failures of DEC candidates.
-the numbers and quality of F/O applications have rapildy dried up due to the realization on the street that:
a) any so called contract you sign with EK is not worth the paper it is printed on,
b) there are other airlines either now hiring or on the verge of doing so and many don't want to jump into getting locked into EK when there are going to be much better opportunities available in the next year or two, and
c) those doing the math can see that it is getting very close to the split where F/O's are going to be spending a lot more time in the right seat in the future (especially with DEC's jumping ahead of them) and many of them do not want to spend extended periods of time locked into the right seat on the very low pay rates (in either Euro or Pound terms). It's a game of musical chairs and the music is very close to stopping. Who will be left without chairs on the left hand side when it does?
I am amazed to see the degree/rate to which this airline has gone from having a generally content pilot group to it's current state. Very sad as I really wanted to spend many years at this company but have had a serious reality check. Dusting off the CV I thought I would never need again.