Originally Posted by
beamer
The question of retirement age is not clarified at the moment and clearly any change to allow Captains to remain in the left hand seat after the age of 60 will have an effect upon promotion prospects - why anyone in their right mind would want to carry on at the age is beyond me but there you go !
Well, a good number of our 'over 60' captains have been allowed to stay until 65 pending the change to the rules in a month or so. This despite their original contracts stating 60 as their NRA. Apparently some of them threatened legal action and the company decided to allow them to stay. Do NOT be surprised if this becomes the norm in all UK carriers; I can't imagine FCA or anyone else wanting to fight the test case under EU law...... so add a few years on to current estimates for time to command, which of course WILL have changed by the time you get to that timescale. I joined Tfly (Britannia) when it was 15 years to command and got one in just over 2 years; right place, right time and a change in the market/ model.
FCA will have changes in the coming years and if longhaul increases significantly and the 787 is going to be 'heavier' on crews then there may well be a significant reduction in the projections for command opportunities. Equally though, tough summers like this year could put the brakes on things.
PP