3- When I lived and worked back home in the U.S., my perception of Aussies was, well, crocodile Dundee-ish laid back with a shrimp on the barbi style. Well, that can't be further from the truth. Ask anyone in EK or any other airline with a substantial number of them. Of course not all are the same and I've met some good guys but the overall majority are not easy in the cockpit.
Oh my god, this statement cracked me up so much.
But anyhow, I don't think Aussies will stay in U.S permanently. I just don't see anyway of getting green card whilst being employed in US on E-3 via (visa of non-immigrant intent) unless they find some skinny American girls. Americans won't have any competition from Aussies when joining US majors. If I were to go there, I'd go to the states just to get free CRJ type rating and some hours and get outta there asap to work in Asia.
We do not even know 100% that Skywest actually has hired Australians. Does anybody actually have a confirmation?