Flybe are indeed buying BA Connect. The BA announcement is
here. This will undoubtedly have an effect on recruiting in the short term as Flybe decides its fleet and manning requirements for the combined company. While this is good news for Flybe as a company, it's not necessarily good news for the pilot communities of the two airlines and, at least in the short term, it is probably bad news for wannabes. I have yet to see an airline buyout/merger* that didn't result in a reduction in fleet numbers, types and manning - after all, Flybe is not going to maintain BACon schedules that compete with its own.
I imagine that new recruiting will be placed on hold for now. It is possible that there may be some job losses among BACon pilots, in which case union agreements will probably demand that no new recruiting takes place until those laid off have been offered their old jobs back. That could take some time - by which I mean a year or more after the merger takes effect.
Interesting further info
here and
here - particularly the part about all BACon's current fleet to be phased out. And
here's the reaction on
Pprune Rumours and News.
I would be very interested to hear what those in the hold pool for both companies are being told. I would be surprised if it's not something along the lines of,
"The merger with Flybe/BACon has introduced uncertainties into our manning forecasts which will take time to resolve. Accordingly, while we will endeavour to place you on a course of training as soon as possible, we would encourage you to continue your search for positions with alternative employers in the short term." Or something like that.
Good luck, all!
Scroggs
* delete depending on your company's perspective!