kungfu panda Your statement is correct as of today, but effective 1st qtr 2023, they will no longer be Government employees with the best pensions in the world and with the removal of credit time for salaries, they are no longer the best paid. There is a pension cut off of 25 years of service, some will be allowed to continue, some will have it transferred to a public pension fund that has a maximum monthly payment limit a lot lower than the SV pension for high earners. Lots of Saudi’s took wide body command and were forced to move to Riyadh. So nothing to keep them working for them anymore. No massive salary, no massive pension and no home base. Hello RIA.
In fact, Saudia is the one that I foresee having to recruit foreign captains. They have achieved 100% localisation for First Officers and only have about 80 foreign Captains left, but that will change.