JetStar NZ
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Just to be put some perspective on this from another angle.
64,000.00 New Zealand Dollars = 51,212.80 Australian Dollars Gross annual Salary.
Going from latest FX rates approx.
How long do you anticipate its going to take to pay back what is owed living on that ??
Its fairly safe to say these days a Bus driver is getting more than that Salary and they dont have to fork out the 10's of thousands worth of training to even get the licences like Pilots do.
This industry stinks.
64,000.00 New Zealand Dollars = 51,212.80 Australian Dollars Gross annual Salary.
Going from latest FX rates approx.
How long do you anticipate its going to take to pay back what is owed living on that ??
Its fairly safe to say these days a Bus driver is getting more than that Salary and they dont have to fork out the 10's of thousands worth of training to even get the licences like Pilots do.
This industry stinks.
Join Date: Apr 2008
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Just backing up here to post #128
Here is a quote directly from the Aus Group Contract:
What is not explicitly forbidden is allowed, from the Company point of view - within the local law.
Australia has stronger employment laws than NZ, and so to see these clauses in an AU contract indicates that they would be able to apply similar clauses in NZ. You must consider everything from the "Company" point of view.
There is absolutely nothing that I see in those clauses that prevents the Company changing your home base to anywhere on their or their clients network at their discretion, and at their will, and at your expense.
They have done this in AU. The Hobart base was closed, and the only positions available were in Darwin. Crew had to move at their own expense, or they had no job. The positions simply ceased to exist in Hobart, no position, no employment, the offer was that simple.
This was the reasoning behind the "Toughen Up Princesses" email, if Perth crew didn't accept multiple BOC (back of clock) Bali returns out of Perth a week, the base would possibly be seen to be "inefficient" and in danger of being closed.
Originally Posted by PhoenixNZ
Nothing in any of the three documents that were posted on page three mentioned anything about Jetstar retaining the right to change your home base location at their discretion without any discussion with the employee. If its in there and I've missed it then please feel free to point it out.
4.2 You are required to operate Company or Client aircraft as directed by the Company.
You must carry out the duties of your role as lawfully directed and at places
reasonably requested by the company
5. Location of employment
5.1 Your Home Base will initially be [insert]
5.2 It is your responsibility to get to and from you Home Base. No special
arrangements will be mad by the Company if you live other than in geographic
proximity to your Home Base location.
8.2.6 attend at the place of business of the Company, or at such other place(s)
as may be required by the Company, during such hours and at such times as you will be
so required by the Company to do;
You must carry out the duties of your role as lawfully directed and at places
reasonably requested by the company
5. Location of employment
5.1 Your Home Base will initially be [insert]
5.2 It is your responsibility to get to and from you Home Base. No special
arrangements will be mad by the Company if you live other than in geographic
proximity to your Home Base location.
8.2.6 attend at the place of business of the Company, or at such other place(s)
as may be required by the Company, during such hours and at such times as you will be
so required by the Company to do;
Australia has stronger employment laws than NZ, and so to see these clauses in an AU contract indicates that they would be able to apply similar clauses in NZ. You must consider everything from the "Company" point of view.
There is absolutely nothing that I see in those clauses that prevents the Company changing your home base to anywhere on their or their clients network at their discretion, and at their will, and at your expense.
They have done this in AU. The Hobart base was closed, and the only positions available were in Darwin. Crew had to move at their own expense, or they had no job. The positions simply ceased to exist in Hobart, no position, no employment, the offer was that simple.
This was the reasoning behind the "Toughen Up Princesses" email, if Perth crew didn't accept multiple BOC (back of clock) Bali returns out of Perth a week, the base would possibly be seen to be "inefficient" and in danger of being closed.
Re toughen up princesses e-mail, I wonder how many times that Jetstar "ace" does the back of clock run to Bali?
One a month, once a fortnight, weekly or avoids it like the plague because it makes him tired?
One a month, once a fortnight, weekly or avoids it like the plague because it makes him tired?
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aviationboy
OZ/NZ airlines will be unlikely to hire you ANYWAY. If they look at you at all, you stand a much better chance with an A320 rating and experience on type, than pretty much any other experience you could gain at the point Phoenix NZ is.
Yet you are happy to be an F/O on a Dash 8 for... how much? And if and when you get your command, your salary will be...? Certainly not 130K (plus all the bits and pieces). And you consider an A320 to be a riskier proposition than a Dash 8? Seriously?
See above. it doesn't matter what you fly at airline level, the number of checks you have to face, the scrutiny etc is the same - Dash 8 or A320.
Tidbinbilla
Actually it pretty much is at the moment. At the current rate of hiring, with a type rating from a reputable trainer and a few years on line, you would have to try fairly hard to screw it up. And, of course, there are plenty of other operators out there and they are all hiring.
Other OZ/NZ airlines will be unlikely to hire you so all roads lead overseas
Even if you stick around and end up on 130k as a captain, is it worth it? I would never command an a320 for that money, it is simply all risk no reward IMO
who doesn't see the level of responsibility present, or the scrutiny you face, the number of sim checks you have to pass each year, line checks
Tidbinbilla
A) You are selected by Jetstar, and:
B) You are selected by Emirates.
It's not that simple.
B) You are selected by Emirates.
It's not that simple.
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Actually it pretty much is at the moment. At the current rate of hiring, with a type rating from a reputable trainer and a few years on line,
From post#123
No Buddah, the JQ repayment is only around 10k p/a
Also the student loan repayment is 10% of the amount above $19081.
Corrected figures:
$64000 base pay
$10000 JQ repayment
$12220 taxes
$4491 student loan payment
$37289 in hand per year or $717.96 per week.
Also the student loan repayment is 10% of the amount above $19081.
Corrected figures:
$64000 base pay
$10000 JQ repayment
$12220 taxes
$4491 student loan payment
$37289 in hand per year or $717.96 per week.
The alternative is to get a loan to cover it, but don't look to a bank. Skipping out of town isn't a good idea, as you may end up in bankruptcy proceedings. Given you will need your passport this is another potential wrinkle.
Jetstar are not stupid, they are using well known techniques of debt bondage to gain a captive workforce. There is a significant problem when the employer loans you money for your own training. (google search terms: debt bondage, peons, truck system, indentured servitude). Go look them up for yourself.
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Ok lets look at other options for this guy.
Go instructing or into GA. Then onto a turboprop. Hell that's what I did and to go any further I still have to go buy a job just like Pheonix.
Even in the Links I fly with FOs who stayed the moral path and some of them rely on govt aid to feed the kids. Everything I was told about this industry has turned out to be BS. Loyalty means nothing. Hard work gets you only so far. Your work mates will smile to your face, pat you on the back, tell you what a great guy you are for standing firm then slide a knife between your shoulder blades in an attempt to cut your lunch at interview time.
But what about unity Bongo? I hear you cry. Ha!! I used to be a believer. Read some of my previous posts defending my beloved ALPA. What a tosser I was. Those pricks will take your subs and head off to some bar overseas to plan how they can keep their dinosaur mates from retiring thus forcing younger pilots to pay their way forward. Or maybe they will come up with a MECA concept for the Links. Yippee that will save some dollars so the POs can order another round.
Didn't you have to pay for your rating to get into Freedom? Where are they now. Oh yeah at Air NZ. Hmmm so the ALPA fees I paid whilst slaving away in GA went to help Freedom pilots, who paid for their training, get into AirNZ. I wonder if any of those characters are on this thread telling others to stay the path?
So leave Phenoix alone. He is not to blame. We are all whores of aviation the trick now is picking the right master to bend over for.
Go instructing or into GA. Then onto a turboprop. Hell that's what I did and to go any further I still have to go buy a job just like Pheonix.
Even in the Links I fly with FOs who stayed the moral path and some of them rely on govt aid to feed the kids. Everything I was told about this industry has turned out to be BS. Loyalty means nothing. Hard work gets you only so far. Your work mates will smile to your face, pat you on the back, tell you what a great guy you are for standing firm then slide a knife between your shoulder blades in an attempt to cut your lunch at interview time.
But what about unity Bongo? I hear you cry. Ha!! I used to be a believer. Read some of my previous posts defending my beloved ALPA. What a tosser I was. Those pricks will take your subs and head off to some bar overseas to plan how they can keep their dinosaur mates from retiring thus forcing younger pilots to pay their way forward. Or maybe they will come up with a MECA concept for the Links. Yippee that will save some dollars so the POs can order another round.
Didn't you have to pay for your rating to get into Freedom? Where are they now. Oh yeah at Air NZ. Hmmm so the ALPA fees I paid whilst slaving away in GA went to help Freedom pilots, who paid for their training, get into AirNZ. I wonder if any of those characters are on this thread telling others to stay the path?
So leave Phenoix alone. He is not to blame. We are all whores of aviation the trick now is picking the right master to bend over for.
Last edited by Bongo Bus Driver; 31st Jul 2011 at 02:14. Reason: Spelling.....thats why I am a pilot. Too dumb to be anything else..
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Even in the Links I fly with FOs who stayed the moral path and some of them rely on govt aid to feed the kids
(1) GA and poverty.
(2) Jetstar and poverty.
The big picture is do you really want to be involved in this industry? Phoenix says he wants to do the the best by his family (I read this to be income) then he would be best served by training in many other industries (resources industry in Oz are paying multiples of an NZ FO) & fly for pleasure. To enter this industry now is for vanity or the already wealthy. There is almost zero prospect of anything other than a hand-to-mouth existence in NZ, and likely in Aus unless you already have command experience. Unfortunately the best of this industry has already past for new entrants.
My advise would be to avoid it like the plague, to not enter it in the first place. Many of my colleges are studying so they can leave the industry, they see the writing on the wall. If you decide that you want to fly for the "love of it" then understand exactly what you are getting into.
edit: Bongo, you are already in the industry, this is different to being a new entrant looking in. The real question here is to enter the industry or not.
Here's a quote from a thread I started 18 months ago on the Europe situation: What Bean-Counters really think of pilots. (original post)
As to our profession, well I had a great time but its finished, really finished. I derive no joy from saying that. A friend of mine told me about a dinner he went to where there was an advisor in economics to the "brightly coloured" airline board, (a social accident - he did not know him before or fix it up, his friends he went with did). He told me that this guy was fascinating. His contempt for pilots knew no bounds and he expounded gleefully on the summer-only contracts he forsaw and the increasing contractorisation of piloting overall, where contractors bid for the work the brand generated and the lowest cost base won. He looked whistfully at Eastern Europe as a great source of cheap pilots and said supply easily exceeded demand for the forseeable future. His view was that flying an airliner was a slightly more sophisticated train driver style job and said, bluntly, that some train drivers now earned more than pilots, which was as it should be in his view, especially for FO's who he viewed as a legal requirement but otherwise woefully overpaid for their contribution. This, he predicted would change rapidly and so, it seems, is the case at the brightly coloured airline, as elsewhere.
He admitted, apparently, that airlines were a pretty cosy club through the various trade bodies they belong to and that they all got together to discuss areas of mutual interest like overhead - particularly staff costs. The oil price makes an airline a price taker but salaries are where they can be a price maker, he said, and that they were all determined to drive the status and salaries of piloting through the floor. It was, he felt, a ridiclous "career" to enter as the specialisation was so narrow and the industry itself so vulnerable to external shocks that it was virtually to condemn oneself to a job where opportunities were increasingly limited and salaries shrinking in real terms every year and with little chance to move outside it at a corporate level unless to manage within it, where the focus would inevitably be on who could deliver the cheapest cost base given the total commoditisation of the industry product. That meant being the best at screwing down the earnings of your own peer group. He felt that this was all fair game and that the market was so easy to rig against pilots come any sign of a downturn in the economy that becoming one was the height of folly, but that, never-the-less, plenty of people kept applying so there was little need to adjust the career to attract the best, they would take what they got. Safety cut little ice because, as he put it, "you lot all want to get home to your families at the end of your overpaid day, so the passengers will be fine too."
Personally, I would have wanted to either walk out or punch him on the nose, but my mate stayed, gripped by the depth of the exposition this economics expert who sat on many other boards of other industries as well went on to over the course of their evening.
He admitted, apparently, that airlines were a pretty cosy club through the various trade bodies they belong to and that they all got together to discuss areas of mutual interest like overhead - particularly staff costs. The oil price makes an airline a price taker but salaries are where they can be a price maker, he said, and that they were all determined to drive the status and salaries of piloting through the floor. It was, he felt, a ridiclous "career" to enter as the specialisation was so narrow and the industry itself so vulnerable to external shocks that it was virtually to condemn oneself to a job where opportunities were increasingly limited and salaries shrinking in real terms every year and with little chance to move outside it at a corporate level unless to manage within it, where the focus would inevitably be on who could deliver the cheapest cost base given the total commoditisation of the industry product. That meant being the best at screwing down the earnings of your own peer group. He felt that this was all fair game and that the market was so easy to rig against pilots come any sign of a downturn in the economy that becoming one was the height of folly, but that, never-the-less, plenty of people kept applying so there was little need to adjust the career to attract the best, they would take what they got. Safety cut little ice because, as he put it, "you lot all want to get home to your families at the end of your overpaid day, so the passengers will be fine too."
Personally, I would have wanted to either walk out or punch him on the nose, but my mate stayed, gripped by the depth of the exposition this economics expert who sat on many other boards of other industries as well went on to over the course of their evening.
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Its a bit late for me to not get into the industry as I'm already doing my training for it.
As was pointed out its a choice between being a slave for a GA company or being a slave for Jetstar. So if I'm going to be a slave either way I might as well do it for the place thats going to get me more chances of getting a reasonable job once my forced servitude is done with.
My main concern with going the JQ route is being able to get enough PIC hours to get my ATPL within three years (as thats how long the exam passes last for I believe).
As was pointed out its a choice between being a slave for a GA company or being a slave for Jetstar. So if I'm going to be a slave either way I might as well do it for the place thats going to get me more chances of getting a reasonable job once my forced servitude is done with.
My main concern with going the JQ route is being able to get enough PIC hours to get my ATPL within three years (as thats how long the exam passes last for I believe).
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hmmmmmm
My main concern with going the JQ route is being able to get enough PIC hours to get my ATPL within three years (as thats how long the exam passes last for I believe).
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breakfastburrito
I've sat in on similar discussions at management meetings, but the other side of the coin is that not that many of the Eastern Euros make it through selection - which is pretty comprehensive - and all these airlines have a vested interest in not having an accident. So while the bean counters might see it that way, the Flight Ops people don't. And, I have said a few times now, airlines are cyclical in their hiring patterns (approximately a 7 year cycle), meaning that while there might be a surplus at the moment, the minute the Euro economies start picking up, lots of new airlines will start to fill the holes left by all the bankruptcies of the last few years. Demand for pilots will then go up rapidly, as will terms and conditions. It's a familiar path.
I would also have to say that there are not that many skippers in the sorts of airlines you mention that are unhappy, purely on pay grounds. Not in Easy, anyway.
Yes, the job has changed and no, it isn't what it once was. But it is still possible to earn a very good living at it, if you make the right choices. It's pretty hard if you want to do it in NZ, personally I think the only realistic choice is overseas if you want to progress. I spent 20 years overseas and had a fantastic time, flying to interesting places, enjoying rapid promotion whilst NEVER paying for anything. By contrast, NZ is an aviation backwater, and Bongo Bus Driver is absolutely correct in his summary.
Given the above, crap as the Jetstar deal is for F/Os, it is a golden opportunity if you really, really want to fly a jet in NZ. It's only for a few years, and the experience and type rating is pure gold further down the track. As soon as you have a command - which will undoubtedly happen pretty quickly - the bad days are behind you and you can pretty much write your own ticket if you are young.
One thing is for sure, it beats ten years of doing the "hard yards" (ie bending over and receiving pineapple while getting paid virtually nothing, and learning first hand the meaning of "risk" and "finding the holes in the swiss cheese"). NZ GA is the gnarly end of flying, you will be at high risk for a long time if you go down that route.
If you are going to receive the pineapple in any case, do it in a jet, much safer and they bring you coffee and food at regular intervals.
I've sat in on similar discussions at management meetings, but the other side of the coin is that not that many of the Eastern Euros make it through selection - which is pretty comprehensive - and all these airlines have a vested interest in not having an accident. So while the bean counters might see it that way, the Flight Ops people don't. And, I have said a few times now, airlines are cyclical in their hiring patterns (approximately a 7 year cycle), meaning that while there might be a surplus at the moment, the minute the Euro economies start picking up, lots of new airlines will start to fill the holes left by all the bankruptcies of the last few years. Demand for pilots will then go up rapidly, as will terms and conditions. It's a familiar path.
I would also have to say that there are not that many skippers in the sorts of airlines you mention that are unhappy, purely on pay grounds. Not in Easy, anyway.
Yes, the job has changed and no, it isn't what it once was. But it is still possible to earn a very good living at it, if you make the right choices. It's pretty hard if you want to do it in NZ, personally I think the only realistic choice is overseas if you want to progress. I spent 20 years overseas and had a fantastic time, flying to interesting places, enjoying rapid promotion whilst NEVER paying for anything. By contrast, NZ is an aviation backwater, and Bongo Bus Driver is absolutely correct in his summary.
Given the above, crap as the Jetstar deal is for F/Os, it is a golden opportunity if you really, really want to fly a jet in NZ. It's only for a few years, and the experience and type rating is pure gold further down the track. As soon as you have a command - which will undoubtedly happen pretty quickly - the bad days are behind you and you can pretty much write your own ticket if you are young.
One thing is for sure, it beats ten years of doing the "hard yards" (ie bending over and receiving pineapple while getting paid virtually nothing, and learning first hand the meaning of "risk" and "finding the holes in the swiss cheese"). NZ GA is the gnarly end of flying, you will be at high risk for a long time if you go down that route.
If you are going to receive the pineapple in any case, do it in a jet, much safer and they bring you coffee and food at regular intervals.
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As an expat kiwi flying in the USA I would love to return to N.Z to fly and I had a good look at the Jet* job but just couldnt do it..
Getting hired with AirNZ of course is not an option and even though I have 1000's of hours flying for an airline in some of the worlds busiest airspace (currently based in JFK) I don't have any experience good enough for Air N.Z or any of the Link operations.
I face blizzards in the winter, massive thunderstorms in the summer, 6 sectors a day on min rest into highly congested airspace and its just not good enough experience for N.Z. Gotta have my ADF flying (I use it to listen to the radio airborne, is that good enough ,lol) and my 100hours of flying in N.Z in the last 12 months to even begin to qualify. Being told to "square the base" at 180kts on the river visual into DCA just carries no weight, but its about as stick and rudder as it gets.
So ok, that's all fine, every country has their own 'special' requirements even if it's really just still being run by a 'good old boy' network. I'm sure I will be told in some not-so-uncertain words here that since I went the overseas route that priority should be given to those that stayed behind and swept the hangar and washed the planes to be given first crack at the local jobs. From what I have read on these forums is that experience is a second cousin to the network.
So that Jet* position looked good for me when I first read it. But as much as I would love to go back to N.Z to live and work (without having to spend $1000's on flying a twin to do ADF work and getting my 100 local in) this contract is giving away pretty much any control of your career for the next X number of years. Sadly not good enough. Funny thing is that here in the US Southwest, the famous LCC, is one of the most sought after jobs. Too bad that can't carry over to others in the industry.
Anyway, my ramble is over. For now i will stay with my 19day off, 75 hour line with the ability to use my ZED tickets to travel and enjoy my life.. But dang I'd love to be back to get my steak and cheese pie on a more regular basis!!
Cheers!
Happy work
Getting hired with AirNZ of course is not an option and even though I have 1000's of hours flying for an airline in some of the worlds busiest airspace (currently based in JFK) I don't have any experience good enough for Air N.Z or any of the Link operations.
I face blizzards in the winter, massive thunderstorms in the summer, 6 sectors a day on min rest into highly congested airspace and its just not good enough experience for N.Z. Gotta have my ADF flying (I use it to listen to the radio airborne, is that good enough ,lol) and my 100hours of flying in N.Z in the last 12 months to even begin to qualify. Being told to "square the base" at 180kts on the river visual into DCA just carries no weight, but its about as stick and rudder as it gets.
So ok, that's all fine, every country has their own 'special' requirements even if it's really just still being run by a 'good old boy' network. I'm sure I will be told in some not-so-uncertain words here that since I went the overseas route that priority should be given to those that stayed behind and swept the hangar and washed the planes to be given first crack at the local jobs. From what I have read on these forums is that experience is a second cousin to the network.
So that Jet* position looked good for me when I first read it. But as much as I would love to go back to N.Z to live and work (without having to spend $1000's on flying a twin to do ADF work and getting my 100 local in) this contract is giving away pretty much any control of your career for the next X number of years. Sadly not good enough. Funny thing is that here in the US Southwest, the famous LCC, is one of the most sought after jobs. Too bad that can't carry over to others in the industry.
Anyway, my ramble is over. For now i will stay with my 19day off, 75 hour line with the ability to use my ZED tickets to travel and enjoy my life.. But dang I'd love to be back to get my steak and cheese pie on a more regular basis!!
Cheers!
Happy work
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It always amuses me when we have accountants trashing other professionals when they have absolutely no idea about piloting a modern day jet. They probably never made the grade to be a pilot so their goal in life is to **** over the piloting profession with their number crunching. As for eastern euros flying their aircraft, pilots are not listed as "shortage" with the NZ government. Jetstar is desperate for pilots because they don't pay enough. Their little scheme hiring cadets will fill a few spots but it won't fill them all. But hey, what would aviation professionals know about their own industry.
All I say to the know it alls that quote we are overpaid bus drivers is "really, when did you last fly a jet?" most of the time their experience comes from Microsoft flight sim or air crash investigation. It must be horrible sitting in an office crunching numbers!
All I say to the know it alls that quote we are overpaid bus drivers is "really, when did you last fly a jet?" most of the time their experience comes from Microsoft flight sim or air crash investigation. It must be horrible sitting in an office crunching numbers!
most of the time their experience comes from Microsoft flight sim or air crash investigation.
Wonder if Microsoft could come up with a whiz bang game like accountant sim or little man big biz sim. Should have a lot of appeal to the masses.
Cant be that hard adding up numbers, heck we even those dang electronic calculator things to do it all for you these days, must get boring now a days, certainly not worth paying big money for acountants anymore.
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Plenty of airline management simulations around... you can get to be your very own boss/accountant/bastard:
Airline Mogul - Home - Online Airline Management Game
Airline Mogul - Home - Online Airline Management Game
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Didn't you have to pay for your rating to get into Freedom? Where are they now. Oh yeah at Air NZ. Hmmm so the ALPA fees I paid whilst slaving away in GA went to help Freedom pilots, who paid for their training, get into AirNZ. I wonder if any of those characters are on this thread telling others to stay the path?
Yes.
No, your fees and everyone elses, went towards helping Air NZ pilots (and future Air NZ pilots) secure their jobs against Freedom becoming a NZ version of J*....the majority of Freedom pilots were happy to stay where they were (much to the disbelief of ALPA and Air NZ pilots)
Personally, I think ALPA membership is worthless in GA but invaluable in Link/Mt Cook and above...but any union is just a reflection of the members. Not sure if I've ever seen a GA guy stand for an ALPA position (happy to be corrected) All contracts and conditions are negotiated by pilot representatives....under the auspices of ALPA with ALPA legal assistance and by and large, they have resulted in reasonable conditions for members.
I've been an ALPA member for over 20 years and although I haven't agreed with everything they have done (both for and against me) I do acknowledge that we are better off for their contribution.
As for your final question, I doubt there are many ex-Freedom pilots who regret buying their type ratings on the B737, but their result is unlikely to be repeated (none bought them expecting to score a gig with Air NZ that's for sure) I'm unsure what advice they would have for Phoenix....you'd need to ask them. Likewise the guys at Pacblue or Jetconnect, who also paid for their ratings and received ALPA assistance negotiating contracts.
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Fair comment, but on the other hand...
The better point is, what is the alternative? If you get through far enough to get the type rating, you are instantly employable in aviation, probably not in NZ, but then, if you HADN'T taken the cadetship... where would you be? Probably either stacking shelves or instructing... just as far away, if not further, from that first gig.
Highly unlikely if you have the type rating and at least one OCA. If nothing else, you would probably be more employable in GA.
Not as long as you would take if you went the GA route.
Sure... but that is better than being in GA and not even being in the hunt for a jet command.
Virtually all growing airlines, which Jetstar most definitely is, have an ongoing need for captains. I don't know where you have been flying, but most airlines have F/Os doing alternate sectors, so ICUS shouldn't be a problem.
The Jetstar cadet scheme might have issues, but it is far and away a better bet than the thoroughly uncertain and unreliable GA route.
If you get halfway, or all the way, through their programme and for whatever reason they don't take you, what's your plan B? Do you have one? How will you bridge the gap from fresh CPL to a job if the cadetship doesn't work out?
If you get let go, for whatever reason, depending on your service time you
may find yourself in no man's land, having to crawl back to the likes of GA.
may find yourself in no man's land, having to crawl back to the likes of GA.
You will take longer for a command due to your low hours and PiC time.
You may/will be stepped over by Direct entry FO's/Captains
You may never get a command due to ATPL license requirements. This will depend on the Airlines need for Captains. Yes you can credit ICUS time towards the ATPL, assuming the Airline is willing to give you that much ICUS time. If they don't need too, they wont.
The Jetstar cadet scheme might have issues, but it is far and away a better bet than the thoroughly uncertain and unreliable GA route.