I believe flungdung is correct - recent fleet growths and up-manning to the correct levels means that we currently have few or no command-ready co-pilots. BALPA has no problem with direct entry captains if there are no internal alternatives.
The only question is where are we expecting to find people with the necessary experience / type ratings? If we poach from Nigeria etc, that will not fix the problem, just move it around. Not sure we present an attractive alternative to CHC / Bond. Lets hope we don't recruit too many direct from the military, I am not sure I can stand another basin flight with "when I was in the military we did it like this..." coming on tape-loop from the other seat
Perhaps its also worth mentioning that we are advertising for copilots as well