I doubt if the numbers employed by
VB will be anywhere near the above.
The latest agreement I heard caters for the first 3 of the B777-300ER's to be crewed by external pilots and the following four aircraft to be crewed by current
VB pilots.
Assuming they operated ten crews per aeroplane that would only be 30 captains and a similar number of F/O`s to be employed externally.
How or where they will employ those pilots from is anyones guess. There probably will be some from Cathay, Some from Emirates and some from Singapore, Korean and Vietnam. Possibly Brunei as well. All in all that is not going to provide many jobs at all for those overseas and wishing to go home.
Personally, as one employed in the sandpit, I coudn`t afford to take a job with
VB. The salary will be less than AUD$200k and of course after tax significantly lower. I also supect that a lot of my colleagues here will also reneg when it comes to the crunch, even though many have applied. It is basically a fishing exercise but not many are seriously considering it.
(Interesting to note that in Australia the government is considering allowing foreign pilots to enter due the current shortage of qualified pilots. If they upped the wages a little there would be no shortage of Australian pilots willing to come home. Just a guess but there is probably around 2000 of us o/s!)