Until the whole thing is thrashed out between BA and BALPA its probably a bit early to speculate on what may or may not be. Theres supposed to be a meeting sometime this week according to other postings and no doubt the outcome will be made known. They will either agree to a compromise whereby both parties come away with honour satisfied or the BA pilots will be up the road on strike which at the end of the day will do little to improve BA's fortunes or public image, let alone the future of their workforce.
I'm not a betting man but I would put money on there being some kind of deal that will allow BA F/O's to bid for commands or at least some proportion of them on the new venture with the externally recruited pilots being eligable to bid for mainline BA after a freeze period. The devil will of course be in the detail. If the deal unfairly favours BA mainline over external recruits then there will be no one interested in the job unless they are newly qualified (unlikely with a longhaul operation into JFK) or desperate. The recruitment process so far as I am aware would rule out both types of individual.
The postings from some that seem to view anyone from outside BA as incompetent or unsafe to operate the services are arrogant and nonsensical and will do nothing but harden attitudes. At the end of the day, pilot jobs are being created and whilst the BA crews must protect their position, after all every other airline uses BA as a benchmark, BALPA exists to further the interests of all its members, not just those in British Airways.
The best of luck to the negotiators. Lets hope it gets resolved without a punch up.
