Ok, let me look into my Crystal Ball....
They are in a special position, to be able to supply their own aircraft with passengers and therefore not have to rely on other holiday tour operators to fill their aircraft. That Sunwing Tours has been around for almost 20 years, I'd say that they have established themselves as a reliable tour supplier.
They are planning their growth of aircraft in a controlled manner and aren't getting too big, too quickly, even though there are people within the organization who would have liked to see more aircraft in operation this year.
In my opinion, as long as they don't lose sight of their business plan, Sunwing will be around longer then Canada 3000 and Royal were.
Doo...This winter season had a spectrum of flying hours. Many flew in excess of 100 hours per month, while others flew less than 80. This was due to the volume of training/line indoc that was taking place. Will next fall/winter season be the same? That is difficult to say, but I would hazard a guess that yes, there will be many pilots who will exceed the 80 hour/month mark.
Pop...per diem is paid according to the Federal Governments schedule for its employees. Right now for Canada, I believe it is around 3.21 cdn and US is also the same, but in USD. For UK, it varies according to location in UK. This year, accom and transport while in the UK, is the responsibility of the individual, so is taken into account with the per diem. Yes, if you were to be deployed to the UK, you can take your family over with you. The company has alloted funds for each pilot for such situation. That the deployed slots are filled for 2007 season, if you were to join Sunwing this year, you would not be required to deploy to the UK.
They schedule 11 GDO's/month. If the scheduling is lighter, then you could see grey days and or reserve days to fill the flying schedule.
As the company is growing and training is continual at present, it is truly difficult to say what is normal for overtime for either Captain or First Officer.
Captains presently are getting more overtime then the FO's. There is likely to be little overtime for the deployed operations and I am guessing some with the domestic, due to ongoing training with the new hires(am guessing here)
Rumoured forecast is 10 NG's for next winter and for summer deploy of 2008, 5 deployed and 3 domestic. So that being said, Sunwing is continuing to look for and want to hire good people for their operations.
Great people at Sunwing.