Guttn, I was never offended, just wanted to get things straight.
I totally agree with you that offcourse it is nice not having to pay for the TR yourself, but with NAS way of "rewarding" with a higher starting salary, I believe is the best way of doing it.
There is also a reason to why NAS have gone this way. They wanted to attract experienced Norwegian pilots working abroad and also NAS donīt have a TRTO, so the way of doing it was to require a valid TR, pay them enough so they wanted to return home.
I believe the majority of pilots starting with NAS have 737 experience. We have a lot of exSAS/BU, quite a few come from Ryan, some from easyJet, a few norwegian Sterling pilots. Not to mention all the ex FlyMe and Falcon pilots.
On top of this a lot of pilots in Norway saw a chance to switch employer and they got the same offer: "we still donīt have a TRTO but if you get a TR on 737 we will employ you, with a good salary".
A TRTO costs money, and now NAS spent the money on salary to the pilots instead with focus on the expansion. Fair in my point of view. What the future has to bring we yet have to see.
In my case, I had a TR (didnīt pay for it) and +1000hrs on the type, Norwegian was the absolutely best company to join when returning home. Even though initially taking a pay cut, it was very small and now with the strong NKR, Iīve actually had a pay increase.
Sterling and FlyMe(still alive at the time) offered much lower salary and we all know SK havenīt recruited since 2000, but as you say they probably will offer a lower initially salary as well.
It is a lot of talk about when SAS starts calling pilots back and recruiting the floodgates from NAS will open. Unless they up their salary Iīm unsure that will happen. You also have to look at your lifelong earnings. If you step down 200 000Nkr yearly, it will take you quite some years to gain that back. With (assuming now, forgive if wrong) a longer time to Command at SAS, you might never catch up. Unless SAS recognize experience when recruiting again, they might have problem attracting the right mix of people. As before, the future will tell.
And to sum up, real happy for you WF guys that the Q400 will return!
TFM