I don't think FPP was intended to be at the expense of DEP recruitment. The idea was BA had a large predicted recruitment requirement over the medium term with no certainty as to when the post 55ers would retire. DEP recruitment alone wasn't able to meet the highest forecast recruitment need so the idea was FPP provides a stable known number of pilots on a set timetable and then DEPs fill in the gaps. Best case was a 50/50 split but with the bmi integration BA found themselves over crewed and do didn't need the DEPs but had already committed to FPP due the long lead in times. There's no sinister plan to recruit FPPs over DEPs, it's just driven my commercial realities and the continually changing plan.