It was my understanding that those pilots are being placed at other bases in Europe. Is that not correct? Has any of those been forced to go to HK?
Within the "basing area" or HKG, they "created" additional slots on the "basing area" just for them.
I would think that basings around the world would give added flexibility to some extend.
It does, it also adds complexity, e.g. when you put a crew together, the flight time limitations can be interesting depending on which base and which time zone people are on.
CX have been hiring DEFOs for a long time. Just because they had bad luck with the latest doesn't mean the concept is flawed. Maybe they just lowered the bar too much.
True, however most of those were earlier DEFOs were employed on the classic freighters initially. The experience levels they wanted were higher than what they accepted for the DEFOs on the pax fleet.
Does flying as SO for 4-5 years make you a better pilot? Surely you will see a lot of stuff and and get a good feel for how CX likes to run things. But how about your own pilot skills and ability to make decisions?
I think CX has a much better idea of what an SO knows and is capable of before they start a JFO upgrade than what the know about a DEFO. Some DEFOs were employed without even a sim ride (e.g. ex-OASIS). SO have a sim rides every 8 weeks, have annual line checks, and have a technical interview before even being allowed to jump into a JFO position. By the time an SO gets a JFO course, they are a known quantity.
Keep in mind, the competitive level of experience was around 4-5000 hrs with turbine experience for a DESOs position, a lot of them have more jet experience and exposure to flying around Asia than DEFOs.
The JFO upgrade process is harder and longer than the DEFO process, many trainers said the 20 sectors was not enough for a DEFO.
If CX have open FO slots at a BASE and not enough FOs/upgradable SOs with legal right to work there - Does that give them the right to hire DEFO without asseessing SOs without right to work there?
CX it would seem thinks it has the right to do anything. By the contract, and how it has been interpreted by the Labour tribunal, no.
They still have to get through the upgrade process, apply for a base and be awarded a basing slot if one exists.
No, you can apply for, and hold a base slot as an assessed SO, you do not need to hold the rank of JFO or FO.
Likewise FOs can bid for, and hold CN slots on a base if they have the seniority, an FO from AKL did this for SYD CN position.