SAA rumours

[Balloo]

it is well known that SAA has given the bid to Boeing for 21 new 737-800's, but it is a rumour that SAA has aquired another 7, 737-200's, are these just for the interim , till SAA get their 800's or are they additional?What is going to happen to the Airbus fleet? Is SAA going to take more crew to fill the gaps of the likes of the extra aircraft and extra frequencies SAA plan, and a big question ----is COLEman going to take the crew from Nationwide and Comair to fill the gaps, and of course to get the upper hand.Rumours are going around that Nationwide and Comair are :"poeping" themselfs, Qualified crew is cheaper than training from scrach.

[Balloo]

Originally posted by Balloo:
it is well known that SAA has given the bid to Boeing for 21 new 737-800's, but it is a rumour that SAA has aquired another 7, 737-200's, are these just for the interim , till SAA get their 800's or are they additional?What is going to happen to the Airbus fleet? Is SAA going to take more crew to fill the gaps of the likes of the extra aircraft and extra frequencies SAA plan, and a big question ----is COLEman going to take the crew from Nationwide and Comair to fill the gaps, and of course to get the upper hand.Rumours are going around that Nationwide and Comair are :"poeping" themselfs, Qualified crew is cheaper than training from scrach.

[skyvan]

The rumour about the extra 7 B737-200s (or similar) is that they are to bring up the 'Classic" fleet up to 20, and there will be the 21 -800s. So there will be 41 domestic/regional aircraft in the fleet within the next 18-24 monthss, up from 28 at the moment (13*B737, 7*A320, 6*A300, 2*B767).
I guess there will be a fair bit of interviewing and recruitment from SAA, although my feeling is that it is unlikely that Comair and Nationwide will be raped for crew. The employment profile at the moment requires new pilots to join as Second Officers on the long range fleets, so there is no benefit in taking pilots already rated on the B737. Also, there are a lot of second officers due for domestic conversions, so they will have to be accomodated before anymore direct entry FOs are likely to be appointed.
One other point, a lot of pilots working for Nationwide and Comair have applied to SAA before, and not been accepted. So, only if their experience/licence levels have improved substantially since the last selections, will they stand a chance. From this can be seen that if SAA does employ from Nationwide or Comair, it will probably be primarily from the junior crews, who have seen the greatest improvement in their 'attractiveness' to SAA, not the senior crews, who Comair and Nationwide would be most loath to see leave. Also don't forget that Comair Captains now earn a decent salary, so they would be unlikely to leave Comair, and take a paycut, just to fly as boypilot on heavy metal. I believe that most of the Nationwide guys are under quite a heavy training bond, so they may be unlikely/unwilling to take the leap.
There are a few cadet intakes due over the next 2 years as well, so there is no excessive pressure to employ 'unsuitable' people.
All the above is only my opinion, I have no idea what management is planning.
More info can be found on the SAA pilots website.