Visionary or scaremonger?
Maybe we shouldn't be so hard on Jet2 over its pay and conditions?
For example, next year Jet2 will be head-to-head with Wizz on BUD-MAN/LPL, and Wizz's manpower costs must be less than half of Jet2's. So the choice is, accept Jet2's pay and conditions or let Wizz and it's fellow mid-European airlines take ALL our UK livelihood away.
And where does it end? Britannia is paying well over double for a top-of-scale Captain compared with a Jet2 first-year Captain, if you take into account overtime, training, pension, more time off and other perks - and even MyTravel, traditionally a modest payer, isn't that far behind. So how will they and Monarch, First Choice and Thomas Cook survive five years hence? Not to mention BA shorthaul.
Not even easyJet is lo co these days. First year Captains on £80k+ (okay, they do have to work for it, but no harder than a mid-European would accept) and brand-new aircraft which have to keep moving to earn their lease costs - under attack on every route from new lo co start-ups who really are lo co.
Maybe Jet2 has it right - cheap pilots and cheap aircraft, neither of which cost much to have hanging around when there's not enough work to do. A few years down the line, Jet2 may be one of the few UK airlines that can afford to keep going. Particularly if they can keep up their legendary quality.
Better make hay while the sun shines!