For many people starting out in the industry the likes of BA/Virgin et al, otherwise known as legacy airlines provided the opportunity of flying for a reputable, stable airline and the chance to fly some heavy metal. Go around any flying school and the majority of people will ogle at the big jets and hope one day to be at the controls. The chance of one day being at big airways would help people get over all those low paid long houred days in rusty old buckets held together with gaffer tape.
Open Skies and what it represents has the potential to completely ruin this industry once and for all. The chance to finally earn a decent living doing a job we all love will be gone. We didn't fork out a fortune and forgo time with our families to end up getting paid a pittance.
If you want to see where this could be heading just look to Asia and the ME. Cathay was once a great airline to work at. A scalers were the best paid in the world. Then they moved to the B scale. Still okay but not so good. Then C and its getting worse each year. Then there were DEC's hired and shafting of guys on seniority lists. The freighter fleet brought even more heart ache. Emirates were no better. All Willy is doing is copying the business model and I hope that BALPA can put an end to it for the sake of all of us.