The continued degrading of salaries will come back and bite the bean counters, especially in a small turbo prop companies - as pay goes down, so does morale, and people who dont feel valued by the company aint going to go out of the way to make sure the a/c stays servicable, gets back to base, come in on days off for example.
also, who the hell do they think they are going to promote? all internal pilots are going to be 200hrs, not staying for more than a year, so they will have to take DEP. Which means they are only just going to get people scraping in on the minmums or instructing backgounds etc. So there isnt going to be much experience "up front". There is a serious safety issue here.
The fuel truck drivers and nearly everyone else at the airport is paid more than an FO in my company.
£16500 is not an acceptable wage. it is below what the average graduate would recieve - take into account that a lot of these guys comming out of oxford have a degree or two themselves.
Shame on the beancounters for letting this happen. I didnt come into aviation for the money, but i do demand a fair wage for the job I do.
CC