Yet, today a large amount of pilots will do anything to get into mainline. Of course management know this and are exploiting it.
Yes a large number of pilots are trying to get into mainline.
A problem for Qantas is that so much of the short haul flying done by the business has been farmed out to subsidiaries that they are mainly robbing Peter to pay Paul. Moving a pilot from Jetstar , or Jetstar NZ, or Network, or Jetconnect or Q-Link etc is good in that the asset has stayed in the group but it still costs money and keeps the group pilot numbers exactly the same. The challenge is to increase the overall group pilot numbers so that group flying can grow, or at the very least stay the same. For QF group pilot numbers to grow or remain the same CPL graduates with no ties need to be choosing to fly for the group, but that’s not enough. Pilots from outside of the group ( Rex, Virgin, RFDS, Air NZ Link , Bonza) need to be joining the group in numbers great enough to cover baby boomers retiring and expansion. There’s really only one way to ensure that return on fleet investment is possible. If this isn’t done then market share will be lost to the Chinese , Middle Eastern and American carriers internationally, and Rex , Virgin, Bonza domestically. Slowly but surely Qantas will shrink if it chooses not to sure up its ‘group’ pilot numbers.