Different bonds are arranged including non-repayment ones. Skippers are getting what amounts to about an 8-9% pay rise over the next year or so; LHS salaries are going to be in the region of £90K+ I think they may have finally realised that they need to pay decent money to keep people.
I did just shy of two years there and enjoyed it. There are stacks of ex-military people in the company who are able to live at home oop north and commute in to Leeds, EMA, MAN etc for a quick two sector day. It's not the land of milk and honey and the T&Cs of the major carriers far outstrip those on offer from Low Fare Finder House. The rosters get pretty chaotic in the summer and rarely survive first contact with reality. Notwithstanding all of that, its a decent enough place to work that offers the opportunities to progress rapidly if do the work/have the ability. No danger of languishing in the RHS for 10-20 years if that sort of thing bothers you.
Jet2 always have regular recruiting panics and do have a high turnover of pilots annually. Lots of "younger" pilots use it as a stepping stone to get onto widebody/LH flying so jump at the first opportunity. I left because oop north isn't home for me and I wanted the long haul lifestyle. That said, I have plenty of ex-RAF mates still at Jet2 who have turned down opportunities to move to bigger carriers and have forged careers in the LHS, as trainers and as managers.
The airlines are all recruiting quite hard at the moment. Whether or not everyone will rush out of the RAF to join up remains to be seen. There have been plenty of regular, similar "it's the end of the world!!" moments over the years and the RAF generally seems to weather the storms....
