Many good people out on the street. Recovery might be quicker than 5-7 years I’d think but still not an enviable position to be in. One would think 787s will be on the agenda again or ordered at outstanding rates whilst the market is depressed and prior to offloading of the business.
Hmmm... 787s...? This is the carrot that was dangled, to the effect of, "don't take it too hard, ladies and gents. We'll get brand spanking 787s in a few years and you can all have your old jobs back".
Yeah, right. Bain is as Bain does. I take it all with less than a grain of salt - and any of my former colleagues who think it'll play out as originally promised is delusional. And if it did, you can be sure it would be on T&Cs that would be akin to getting the royal pineapple treatment at every sign-on. I'm not holding my breath on 'ifs' or 'maybes' but playing the card I've been dealt. I've made my peace with the idea that my airline career is over. Whilst it's not how I planned or wanted things to go, if nothing else, at least it's pushed me to finally pursue a long-held goal of going Stateside, completing my FAA ATP and getting into a corporate jet job opportunity. As such, I've been luckier than some and I am already seeing light at the end of the tunnel. I have many friends and family in the US, so the wife and I have been quite happy to "escape" Dictator Dan's Demokratic People's Republic of Viktoria for the Land of the Free. That said, the most heart-breaking aspect for me - aside from seeing VA reduced to a shell of its former self - has been witnessing a wealth of industry experience lost, never to be shared again with the next group of up-and-comers. Yeah, we lost a lot of good soldiers this last year...
P.S. As a side-note, regarding an aforementioned 500,000 people in the US taking a "dirt nap", I think some perspective is in order. There's 330 million people over here. Covid is real. People have died. That's a tragedy. But for cryin' out loud, we're pilots! We, of all people, should understand the meaning of the words, 'risk management'. Simply being alive at all means accepting a certain amount of risk - and there's 1,001 things that can kill you every day, just by getting out of bed. Covid is only one more. So sure, you can "stay safe" and never go outside again until no-one dies anymore, or you can stop living in fear and get on with life. You know what... For a virus with a frickin' 99% recovery rate, I'll take my chances. Most Americans around me right now would agree - and I'm glad for it because frankly I was getting sick of being surrounded by 'Chicken Little' Aussies who were jumping at their own shadows. The genie's out of the bottle and we live in a Covid world. Meanwhile, it's time we stopped letting this virus dominate every aspect of our daily lives and conversations.