If you have the ATPL ground exam passes in the bag it might be prudent to complete the CPL/ME training and have a commercial licence issued. This at least protects your exam passes. It also means that when there are signs of an upturn in the market the IR should only take 2 months (wx permitting
). This means that if we time it right the IR skills will still be fresh and sharp, ready for a sim session. It isn't just the cost of initially getting the IR, but also the cost of keeping it current, and on current prices that would probably be in the region of 2-3k per year.
I guess it depends on how quick and ugly the fracas in the Gulf is. If things go very quickly with few casualties and peace and stability are returned to the region then maybe by September/October airlines will be hiring again. Alternatively if it starts to go wrong with long drawn out campaign, large amounts of caualties other countries being drawn into the conflict etc etc then I suppose we are going to be stuck on the ground for a while.