I couldnt agree more with MOR . It is disgraceful that the IAA have agreed to this . Any prospective student pilot could now go to the US and take an FAA license , get some hours , pay for a cheap non JAA type rating and get a job in Europe .
I myself have worked hard to get my ATPL , issued by the IAA , and am flying for a UK airline . This type of behaviour by the IAA and Cityjet, is giving irish aviation a reputation for being savagely corupt.
This type of thing has being going on for a while now , and now I am going to exchange my ATPL for a UK ATPL . If this continues , I would urge everyone in the same position to do the same while you still can .
Already , there are some well known TRE's , not associated with Cityjet or FR , making noise about insisting prospective new hires exchange their license .
I have no problems with non EU individuals , however airlines in the EU should hire all those license holders without jobs firstly . No other industry would tolerate this and Iam glad to see the stance both the CAA and BALPA have taken on this . And of course , going back to the original debate , as I have mentioned above , this not only covers Cityjet.
Cityjet is full of ex Aircorps , with a lot of influence with the IAA . I have not worked for Cityjet , but have known some fine pilots from there .