What is the average age and experience in the left hand seat in eJ? I would hazard a guess, 25-35 with 3,000-5,000 hours?
Allow me to correct. On the most recent command course no one had less than 5,000TT. Whereas there are young skippers, even a few who managed to achieve command while still in their 20s the average age is well North of 35. It is probably over 40. Don't overlook the fact that there are many who joined from other airlines as DEC in the rapid expansion days. They came from BA (retirees at 55) Cathay, Emirates, Qatar and many other well-known operators. EZY also took over Go and GB and in so doing acquired a considerable number of experienced captains.
Another thing to bear in mind is the wording of the advertisement for this recruitment. It asked for
future captains. EZY is not aiming simply to fill FO vacancies in 2014. It wants people who will (reasonably quickly) be able to transition to command. It is to help fill an experience gap which has appeared and it is partly in response to continuous pressure from training captains to recruit more widely again. There are already a considerable number of FOs who joined from other A320 operators over the last couple of years or so; this recruitment is to ensure that EZY has a pool of SFOs from a wide variety backgrounds to replace the considerable number of captains who are in the autumn of their careers (I am one).