There is no getting around it. If you come to Emirates, they are the ones in control. This is how it all boils down. A F/O with 3 years service gets first kick at the cat provided he has the hours, and has shown proficiency in his job. Then it is the accelerated guy who must have more experience and been at the company at least a year. Then it is the DEC.
Simple right? The thing is, the company does not have to follow these rules if it doesn't want to. If it costs too much or if it reduces the expertise to unacceptable levels on a particular fleet, flight ops are not allowed to do it. That being said the company will try as best they can to follow the sequence. Of course this is a simplified view and in fact it can get much more complicated but you get the general idea.
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