Jumbocpt, Sam Unfortunately it has changed since your departures, the splitting of PSAA from FOT was a bad idea in hindsight, the synergies required to get people trained for the benefit of the airline are just not there anymore. We have seen 5/6 new hires (E170) fail a check ride on the FTD, followed by the 6th leaving line training before the check ride, this used to be unheard of.
The reality for any new hire is that he will be required to memorise everything from day one, without actually getting told what "everything" is!!
Training doesn't exist, check rides begin on day 1......
Some get through easily, for others its pure hell. But strangely enough once people get the star and the money kicks in, they appear to be generally happy
Hope you are enjoying retirement, new DG shows up after EID, so it will be interesting to see where the next 5 year plan brings us, but with a possible fleet expansion of 40 aircraft, the requirement for expats will continue for years to come.
Mutt