I agree with a few of the above posters. A bond on a new hire FO is not really necessary with the new Part61 licensing. Very few new hires will already hold an ATPL. And with fewer job offerings for crew without an ATPL, new hires will have limited options.
Not so a recently upgraded Captain, hence the bonding for promotions.
AFAIK, Cathay are “working on” a process whereby Ausssie new hire SO’s won’t require an ATPL, but that may be some time away.
The problem is, is that many Captains share the attitude of
BONEY. He’ll ignore the fact that many of the recent 40+ resignations (not all FO’s by any means) were triggered by the forced downgrades/demotions/relocations earlier this year.
He’ll admit that (in his opinion) only around 1/3 of FO’s are there as a stepping stone, and yet is more than happy to condemn
ALL new hire FO’s to T’s & C’s that virtually guarantee they’ll consider Qlink to be a stepping stone.
Then attempts to justify it by saying something like:
Yep, maybe a bit rude but if they stick around for the long term, they would break even after a year of Command
That’s how it is now folks: join Australia’s largest regional airline and your wages will be “B” scale. But you’ll “break even” with others in the industry after a few years! Hurrah!
Of course, all of this is because the FO pay scale is getting
BONEY (and others like him) HIS pay-rise. As I said on an earlier post, “Whatever lets you look yourself in the mirror…”
DIVOSH!