There is a huge misinterpretation of our many critics about lowering the requirements. The most suitable applicant would be a 777/380 FO with 2500h on type. The least suitable, however possible, is an ab initio candidate. The difference between the two is the amount, time and quality of training reqired to bring him up to a level that skippers can go to the isolation cell in the most remote part of the aircraft for rest without their heart racing. And this is where EK is failing miserbly. The erosion of training quality by delegating almost everything to distant learning, the ever less experienced trainers who can basically only rely on books and sops, but very little real experience, is paired with the need of hiring less experienced candidates due to the suitable ones shunning the gulag.
Nothing against TP pilots, their basic capacity is the same, but many of us have experienced the integration of lesser experiend pilots with an inadequate syllabus and training department, always considering their basic skills. They need more and different modules and most importantly more line training. That is expensive and man-intensive and will therefore not happen. The burden and even some incurring risk is shoved down the exhausted and frustrated line pilots just for the sake of profit and greed, victim is safety.
I just wonder how the insurance companies look at this evolution. The regulator is corrupt and the customers lured in a constant rose tinted bubble.
Brace for a serious incident and it will be BAH all over again and all the responsible crooks will put on an innocent face and pretend that no one could have seen this coming. Like LH ....