Three Lions - Just to explain, my comments about the 200 hour cadets were not to say that we do not have them but rather you cannot run an airline with them. By that I mean you need experienced captains and training captains in particular. You can make up the demographics of the FOs how you like, although you would be very unwise not build in the possibility of promoting them as time goes by. Low-houred cadets will not be promotable for some years and that may stunt your growth later on.
As others are pointing out here, Vueling could yet be the saviour of NAS in providing crews at the right time for their Airbuses. The problem with that is that Vueling are now an appendage of British Airways, who are attacking the low cost market themselves in a big way through them. The players fighting it out are basically easyJet, Ryanair, Norwegian and Vueling. Everyone has a a price and if Norwegian gets that right they can pick the pocket of Vueling and get whoever they want. The problem is that BA (Vueling's backers) have two massive incentives to stop that happening - their own desire to be top dog in the market, for which they require experienced captains and the need to prevent Norwegian expanding. Both can be achieved by preventing the flow of key pilots (experienced training captains in particular) leaving them through their own inducement packages. (I just hope easyJet do the same!) This is a competitive industry and all players in the game must pay the market rate to get the goods and services they require. If you require some very experienced pilots on type, and everyone is basically looking for the same people, then that puts up the price - the wonders of supply and demand. If there is a glut then the price goes down - simples! Just have a look at some of the salaries A320 captains can command in China right now to see what supply and demand does. Frankly, I can only rejoice at the situation and hope we all benefit.