Spoke with a BA skipper last night very briefly after a long haul sector to the new side of the pond. Recruting is in fact firing up and he mentioned a few things. 100 pilots plus was said and requirements would be full ATPL, 2500 hours with a type etc. It is safe to say that this will attract plenty of attention from those with the requirements. The airline does have a fairly steady retirement flow so recrutiment could be steady for some time.
It all adds up to an improving future in the UK market. Coupled with Easy and Ryans needs not to mention of course Virgin and others, things are on the up and up.