There is so much crap and spin in this release that it makes me sick.
...our pilots have been poached by Virgin, Jetstar and Qantas ...
Poaching is when you trepass onto someone else's property and take something that doesn't belong to you. I'm pretty sure that QF haven't directly approached REX crew to get them to jump ship and so you can take your hyperbole and shove it. You don't 'own' the pilots. They don't 'belong' to you no matter how much you want that to be the reality. Perhaps if you didn't treat them like ****e they wouldn't be thinking about jumping ship.
"It is almost too late to avert some of the disastrous consequences in Australia of the looming pilot shortage as it takes at least eight months to train a new pilot.
Drongo. It takes about 12 months to get them to CPL standard and it'll take another few months beyond that to get them online. You're not outof the woods on this one until 2009. Don't bitch and moan because pilots have been telling you now for a couple of years that this was coming. You didn't believe them because you were still focussing on driving down terms and conditions. Reap what you sow.
"While Rex has taken a big hit recently, we currently have our full establishment of pilots. However 15% of them are undergoing various stages of training and will be phased in over the next two months.
Which sounds like you're currently down by about 15% of line pilots. Any you lose in the next few months- and you will lose them- mean that you're still going to get caught short.
...implement a cadet scheme whereby 40 cadets annually will be sheltered from most of the cost of the pilot training in return for a five year commitment.
Sheltered from most of the cost? Hardly. If I read it correctly REX just guarantee the loan. The candidate still has to pay it off. Either way, a five year ROSO for just $40K worth of training (they only do half) is still a crap deal. This won't save your backside.
"Rex has done all it could...
No you haven't. You've stuffed this one up mightily. Whilst I don't disagree about the funding you're full of BS to state that you've done all you could. What you have done is to bury your head into the sand right up until the day that you started to park aeroplanes. Reap what you sow.
The high cost of flying training, estimated at around $80,000 per individual, is the main reason why there are not enough commercial pilots being produced today.
No it's not. It's the crap rates of pay that you and your ilk offer people who need to pay off that $80K that is the reason.
Reap what you sow you morons. You can't say you weren't warned! :twisted: