Sadly I don't think this is enough to meet the twin needs of retention and recruitment. Its the type of rise that if, you were staying anyway you would be happy with. It makes the EK salary a little more competitive but not really attractive to the sort of guys and gals they want to attract to secure the expansion. For a european F/O the exchange rate still hurts too much and it takes the starting salary in pounds back to where it was 8 years ago before inflation went mad.
The flying pay is set at a relatively modest level and gets the company out of having to pay extra PF contributions. Interestingly the overall quoted change is based on us flying 75hrs/month or 900/year. Wasn't it just last year that the stated aim was to reduce our flying to about 750/year. Personally, I would have preferred just a flat increase.
I wonder what they will do to the trainers and managers? If they do not get an increase that covers not only the loss of flying pay but also the loss of overtime, why would they bother to do it? For guys that have moved out the UA announcement may be critical. We have a few guys that are renting that are getting priced out of the market.
A welcome step in the right direction but it will be interesting to see if it achieves the companies aims; my guess it will not.