As Stiglet has said I think the deal is crap but that the places will be filled.
@James Brown, where do I start?
Commands are slowing down, new cadets have been told to expect 7-8 years to command.
Oh thats right, from the people leaving as fast as they can for BA/Emirates/Virgin/Monarch.
Where are these skippers going to go to create the command vacancies? The only shock to easyjet's attrition forecast was DEC at EK where we lost 29 I believe, are they going to recruit DEC again? There has never been a mass exit for the doors, the likes of BA recruit perhaps 100 DEP's per year from across the industry?, Virgin is a basket case, Captains really leaving to become FO's at Monarch? Really?! Yes your friend who flies a biz jet may well love it and it suits him very well and earns more but it's a even more fickle business and I like being in my bed every night.
On average I am home at 2300 on lates and leave the house at 0530 on earlies. Yes the days are long but I still have a great quality of life. Everyone is different though.
Have you in fact stopped to wonder why the European bases are on a much better deal than the UK? I'd be annoyed if I were a UK based Captain and I met a French based FO on more than me.
@James Brown do you actually know why the Continental bases are on such a better deal than the UK pilots or do you want me to tell you?
Mainly due to the €:£ exchange rate. The Golden contract which was the Spanish contract (basic circa €140,000) which sadly doesn't exist anymore was poo poo'ed by the UK workforce as being paltry when it was created at the then exchange rate of £1:€1.45 in 2006 as it had no pension etc. Cue a falling pound and you've got UK pilots falling over themselves to get into Madrid. The same goes for CDG and MXP. When they were created they weren't that great but when the pound fell it became the promised land,
for the commuter. Ask a euro pilot about his euromillions and most say it's bloody expensive over there especially if you are single as for families there are many tax breaks. Do I want to see contracts re-evaluated every time a currency falls or rises? No thanks. If you're paid in £ and spend in £ it makes no difference, likewise for the €. So are the euro contracts better off because of their tub thumping unions or is it historically because of the exchange rate when the contracts were created. It's a bit of both but mainly because of the latter.