Quick commands in NZ and AUS were as a result of a one off event that lasted about 6 years. Started by the collapse of Ansett and the subsequent rise of Virgin followed by Jetstar and further fuelled by the "boom". The "boom" was an artificial credit-fuelled event that we have been paying for over the last 8 years. This is set to continue. Glenn Stevens has spoken at length about this.
The fact that there hasn't been a collapse of a major airline or the property market during this period is nothing short of a miracle. It's time first and foremost for the sake of everybody, that we start to take stock of what we have as opposed to what we don't have.
When I did my training, Ansett and Qantas hired a handful of people on a good year. Jet FO's that you would meet at university info nights, were akin to celebrities such was the difficulty in actually making it through GA.
In GA, large numbers of qualified in debt people would hang around the various GA "hot" spots hoping to sweep a hangar. Larger numbers would walk away after years of trying. They were faced with restarting a new career in a new field in their mid 30s, having spent some of their best years sucking up to GA operators and living in squalor.
Flying a jet for an airline from the RHS in AUS/NZ is a privileged position. Forget about commands and focus on being a First Officer and smell the roses. I know some good men who missed out and some that died in GA who would give their right arm to join the bottom of Virgin's dreaded GDOJ list.
As far as I know the GDOJ list has helped most those at the bottom of the list. Redundancies have been avoided and transfers with no endorsement costs have been taking place. Without GDOJ it's also possible that more qualified endorsed jet applicants may have applied leaving the less experienced in GA.
Most of the FO's you might think are going to start commuting to AKL and CHC for a command aren't. They enjoy the job for what it is and have stopped chasing dreams. These are the same FO's that lost 300 seniority spots so the GDOJ list could exist. Rarely do you hear a complaint from them.
Tiger haven't joined the list. Tiger pilots will decide if they want to join via a vote as their EBA needs to be varied to do so. I hope they do as the big picture is options for the next 30 years as opposed to a quick command. In reality if the Tiger pilots vote it up, this will give the group the option to expand Tiger and all their FO's will be in the hot seat for the last quick commands. Good luck to them and welcome.