Although Doug the Head and I do not always agree, on this occasion I agree that the pilot community has proven weak in the past when it should have been stronger. The disgraceful First Officer divide-and-conquer contracts are indefensible, and I have never attempted to do so. As I have said previously, there are some great aspects of working for easyJet and some less than ideal ones. I also back Studi's views about the principle of easyJet pilots for easyJet cockpits. We could and should have been stronger on this. The bottom line is that if we do not back BALPA we will never achieve that.
I stand by my view that no airline of any calibre will take DECs when there are guys to promote. As I have openly stated, I was once a DEC at a time when there was a shortage of suitable and experienced SFOs to promote. As others are so clearly saying, that situation is unlikely to return for the foreseaable future and therefore the comparisons with BA, Virgin and Cathay are entirely appropriate. I do accept that there are individuals lurking within the management structure who have failed to grasp how not to stuff their boys. Like every other airline that is expanding, we would look at DECs when we cannot fill the cockpits - that is a situation that I cannot envisage any time soon. As long as there are promotable SFOs we must, without exception, promote them before taking on DECs. For all those interested in stats, after 2012 we have no more aircraft on order - if that stays the same then any talk of DECs is simply wasted breath and heartbeats.