Conductor,
I have a healthy level of cynicism for anything that comes from above, however I do believe that we will see the 787 around 2016. I think management also need to see that happen, hence they are carrying a "surplus" (it doesn't hurt that they are removing AL and LSL from their liabilities in bulk). If they wanted to make guys redundant, they would have done so over the last few years, or at the very least given them notice. It is an expensive business, and carrying the number of excess crew that we have is not cheap. They are not doing it to be nice and they are not doing it because its the more expensive way to run the business. If there was a dollar in it, we'd all be out on the street right now.
I also believe, for whatever reasons I'm not sure, that the "spin cycle" has started to opinion the other way. JQ has been a little on the nose of late, and they have been pumping the "great success" of the EK alliance. I suspect we will see more of this and the QF Intl books will look good in a few years. It will be interesting to see the responses over the orange fence when this happens.
My career also depends on it!
