I, and many of my ex-jmc colleagues know exactly how the affected pilots feel, having been through the same scenario a couple of years ago in the light of 9/11. I wish to express my best wishes to all those affected and re-iterate the comments of others in so much that at least there are several employers currently recruiting and some even bigger ones going to recruit about the time that the negotiation period is up.
I have no doubt that the CC will negotiate for early retirement and voluntary redundancy packages, as the jmc CC did. The biggest thing is how many do you have who are close enough to retirement to 'jump at the chance' to leave early without loss of benefits? I know it wasn't quite enough in jmc and several of us near the bottom of the list were still staring down the barrell of the redundancy gun once the negotiation period was up.
The most warming comment I have read thus far was the following quote from David Margrie;
"We have a 90-day consultation period and pilots and other employees will not be given their notice until November, so we have time to see what we can do."
That presumably means 6 months before anyone is forced to leave. This is at least a significant amount of time and in the current market I would go so far as to say that I doubt there will be any compulsory pilot redundancies once all the other options are taken up and those who feel 'forced' (like I did at jmc), leave for pastures new.
I hope you all manage to secure continued employment. Be safe as the stress and pressure does affect your flying over such a long period of continued uncertainty.
PP