Very few ex BA folk at Aeu now, and many of them are only part time. All the new Airbus folk are ex Excel, Virgin, and erm....Ezy, plus a few other carriers but not BA, and they are certainly not retirees living off company pensions.
A320 now on the AOC, and the proving flight had no adverse comment whatever from the CAA. Things moving rapidly ahead on many fronts, and not just Aer Lingus. Care to bet on how many aircraft Astraeus may be operating by next Summer? NSF will be chomping on his orange shell suit. Aeu is also hiring 757 and 737 guys, 6 are up for training this month. Its a good place to work, not the highest paid, nor the lowest by any means, and it still retains the character of a company where you are a name not just a number.
There are still people for whom this counts for quite a bit.
If this sounds like a bit of an advert for Astraeus...well....you could be right.
Africa to the Arctic circle, and China to the east coast USA (and all points inbetween) is our scheduled stomping ground this Summer, along with any extra business that our worldwide AOC generates.
While NSF and the ever diminishing legions of "Pilots entitled to brain surgeon salaries"folk whinge and wring their hands at our Airline business model, may I suggest they are in the wrong job. They should have joined the Post office.