Good point dannythau, only 2 ATR so if all were to succeed then we could be in the "holding pool", if there is one, for a while! I'm also considering my options. A South African licence and no experience on line means no chance of a job with any other airline. It certainly will be of no use in Europe as you need JAA in Europe.
I think one needs to look at the chances of getting a job after. I think Balgobin cannot ever offer a guarantee as nothing in life is guaranteed, but some kind of contract, some kind of acknowledgment that you are going to be put in a holding pool would put some people's mind at ease. MK are getting new aircraft and they will need to be crewed. That Mckenzie report gave the company 3 years, we'll be done in around 1.5 yrs. So the company should still be around. Will they still need crew? Why did they run a "recuitment" excercise if they didn't think they'd need crew??