Interesting points dolittle and ones that have been discussed amongst many at Qantas. The impact on the issues you raise on the quality of applicants for Qantas is worth considering also.
Flyboat north went onto my ignore list long ago so I have no idea if any useful contribution has been made there- I'd be surprised based on past performance before being added to my ignore list
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One thing to consider as a difference between Virgin, Jetstar and Qantas. Qantas have 1700 pilots. 50 pilots a year hit retirement age (65 ostensibly*) every year for the next 15 years. What's the demographic at Virgin and Jetstar? They've had exponential growth for a number of years now but if it's back to organic growth of only a couple of percent a year, what does that do for promotional opportunities when so many of their Captains are very young?
*Yes I know it's not a hard and fast number but it's not like there are 40% of crew going beyond 65. It's actually less than 10%.