Cadets are whole different story. They get a huge amount of training, it's subsidised by the country. I don't dislike the guys, they are well trained, however very synthetically. I can't trust them the way i do with expat FOs.
You would never be able to convince EK to give so much equivalent training to lower qualified applicants.
There lies my main concern: Training.
They will probably start with a new syllabus for TP and similar newbees, as they might do with non-rated DECs (
). But that means a lot more SIM hours, even more trainers absorbed, even less leave for the line guys, until some supremely witty desk driver will slowly and silently turn back the wheel to where training is today, pretending that experience shows it ample and sufficient for EK. The GCAA will rubber stamp anything anyway. Everything to keep metal flying no matter how. No one shall lose face!
On the line we will be confronted with many new nice colleagues who however need a lot more coaching and have outstanding training holes.
Mind you: Not with trainers who can block one nice flight a month (preferably to my home town, blocking 20 out of 30 days for
my bids) and the nice privilege to have assured 5 days off in a row and appended to the next ones on the next roster. (Don't get me wrong, it's not an attack against trainers, it's against unfair privileges).
No, this time it will be with shattered skippers like me, working 90+ hours, through 12 hours of time difference with minimum rest and days off, having an outstanding leave balance of 30 days.
It's simply drilling very tiny new holes into a slice of the cheese. But even tiny ones can add up to the big ones the situation has already drilled into others.