Herecomes the bride - As regards your original question regarding possible recruitment. Whilst there has been no talk of pilot recruitment by the company - believe me that is bound to be on the agenda next year.
All the pilots on Europe are being rostered the maximum possible hours permissable. Whilst not reaching the maximum hours, the A330 pilots are also working harder than in previous years.
The company has quite a few problems to sort out before any recruitment can be considered. First and foremost is how the funds are to be made available for any fleet expansion. This is estimated to be in the region of €2 billion.
Next is where the aircraft are going to come from. Besides the debate over the fleet renewal regarding the A350 or B787, the main problem at the moment is that the company can't get any additional A330's at the moment. The company have also indicated further expansion on Europe.
EI is certainly not dead man's shoes! I'll bet my hat on that one. Until an announcement can be made on exact aircraft numbers, no announcement will be made regarding recruitment. But any idiot will be able to tell you that EI has to expand. That expansion in the future will primarily be on the long haul side of things. Which will require substantial pilot numbers. Due to the seniority system those places will eventually be taken by the existing pilots. So any new recruit to EI will end up on the A320. Airbus pilots will be top of the list followed by suitably qualified experienced airline pilots.
I'd imagine that the company would be swamped with applications from ryanair, aer arran and cityjet. Why you ask, because despite the loss of working conditions and increased productivity since 9/11 - EI is now one of the best payers in Europe and has perhaps the best pension scheme around (a final salary scheme in which each pilot pays 7% and the company pays 21%)
Yes, three pilots (junior on the seniority list) recently resigned to go and work elsewhere. Two in the desert and one stateside. Like any company, for some the grass is always greener, especially when there is the lure of long-haul flying! But as regards a potential exodus - don't think so!
IALPA has stated that regarding any future recruitment, any new joiners will be on the same terms and conditions.
Like all companies, there are problems at EI. But slowly and surely these are being sorted out. WW has left and started to swing his axe elsewhere (watch your back nigel!!!), and the new guy at least knows how to deal with people, as oppossed to being very good at firing people!
EI has dramatically changed since 9/11, but at least it survived and is now a profitable airline with a future. Secondly we have a strong union that has the ability to somewhat protect our livelyhood! How many pilots have that luxury nowadays?