I find it hard to take much solace in the statement by the HOFO that "we are confident we will not have to retrench any Second Officers." and " At the end of the VR/RIN timeline we don’t expect to have any surplus crew"
Not because I don't believe him but because I doubt very much that the HOFO is privy to the strategic plans for mainline beyond the current flying plan. Therefore he will be trickle fed information, much as the pilot body is being trickle fed: there seems to be a deliberate effort not to give even the slightest indication about what mainline's future is.
So again I ask: where is the evidence? No aircraft orders (yet), no new routes, not the slightest desire in actually running an airline. I will be as happy as the next mainline pilot if I am proven to be wrong and overly pessimistic.