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Director of Flight Ops (DFO Nick Rhodes) announced today that the recruiting freeze will only affect ground staff and not pilot recruitment.
The Boeing factory strike will delay all B777 and 74 arrivals by at least 3 months (which will lead to a delay in pilot intake requirements and upgrades) but the company still intends to recruit 100 pilots in 2009 (less than I thought) and 250+ in 2010.