ALL upgrades on the Airbus are being delayed. This is due to the fact that there are not enough F/O's in the system so upgrades are being delayed. The reason there are not enough F/O's presently on the airbus and in the foreseeable future is due to the DEC policy. Presently F/O's are slowly being offered upgrades, course dates starting at 3 years and 5 months roughly. There is a shortage of captains on the bus, requiring upgrades, but the upgrades cannot be offered on time simply because that would worsen the shortage of F/O's already being experienced on the bus.
Its an ugly catch 22 situation that is completely due to the DEC policy.
Hiring more DEC's means further delaying F/O upgrades. Not hiring more DECs and consequently upgrading F/O's on time, means further shortages of F/O's. There aren't enough F/O's because of resignations, and no shows which is a direct result of the DEC policy.
I just flew with a fellow who was in my opinion extremely competent and definitely worthy and capable of upgrading, yet his tentative ground school course date is at 3 years and 5 months.
The Russians and south americans are finding new interest in their applications to EK. No offence intended but since the Malaysians have now decided that EK isn't their cup of tea, EK has now moved on to other groups of prospective F/O's.
To suggest that the DEC policy has been anything other than a complete disaster is not accurate. As well, to suggest that TCAS was in the least upset by anything that further degrades the careers of those at EK, is one of the funniest things i've ever read. I knew from day 1 that the last memo regarding transition upgrades etc, was a smoke screen to say the least. Mark my words, there will be a very small number of transition upgrades if any at all. It would only exacerbate the problem of insufficient numbers of F/O's on the airbus.