I emailed that question the day we got the email with no reply.

I wonder how many in the hold pool will just see this as a non starter now and either look at other airlines or stay for upgrades at current one.

No DEP for the longhaul side or internal moves only?

Clearly why they are forecasting no DEP recruitment next year. Cadets are cheaper - they come without experience!

The bottleneck will be the training department, it may get to a point where they can't cope with getting 150+ newbies onto the line, which is where rated guys & gals near the top of the pool list may be in luck.

I think things are looking bleak for our non-rated friends though...

Things change very quickly at BA. The latest flying programme snapshot will be published at the end of September. Already 2018 is being talked of as a "busy time" for pilot recruitment, so I would be cautiously optimistic. Good luck all...

"A busy time for recruitment..,"

Yep, they've got 150-odd fATPL cadets to administer.

There are so many unknowns at the moment I'm not sure there is any way anybody can offer meaningful predictions...

Yes there's the fleet plan coming up, but there's also the result of the internal move bid, and yes there are a significant number of FPPs waiting in the wings...

On one extreme if in November we find out all the existing Airbus pilots have opted to remain on the short haul fleet then the company might well be visiting the hold pool to find experienced pilots to fill long haul positions.....odds on that extreme event happening is, I suspect , between zero and nil....

If OTOH the long haul slots can be filled by internal movement and there is training capacity to backfill those short haul vacancies with the FPPs then many hold poolers are going to be dissapointed because the company will use the FPPs for the reasons previously mentioned.

The picture might be clearer after the results of the internal bid are known, which AFAIK is not until November...

All I can say is good luck.

Busy year for recruitment, no DEP next year, lots of DEP next year, FPP only, SSP cadets, huge amounts of training next year for LH expansion, not enough SH pilots who are unfrozen to fill LH roles, commands gone senior on SH, commands gone junior on SH, A350 not coming, A350s are coming.......777X. I think I have heard all of that in the last few weeks. I don't think anyone knows really and those that do really don't share the information with people in dark corners of the crew room........saying that dark corners of the crew room are full of surprises 😎

Its impossible to predict anything in aviation, just be ready to take advantage of any opportunities that interest you. In my time I've seen people predict zero recruitment only to have the busiest year ever or commands are 20 years away then suddenly pilots with 2 years in the airline are on command courses. It could happen that the pilots over 55 suddenly decide to retire and enjoy their health and wealth, or a Korean war could end recruitment for years and throw everything in to chaos.

Here you go

our plan is to carry a small surplus into 2018 predominantly to ease the transition to JSS. Given the complexities of our agreements and the long timescales for pilot recruitment, after a hiatus in recruitment over the summer period, we are looking forward to welcoming the final tranche of FPP graduates over the next few months before recommending external recruitment in earnest in the New Year. We have enjoyed a recuperative year in 2017 and, though we will not complete the detailed work on our 2018 financial plan until October, we can be confident that the next 12 months will be a busy time both within the operation and for pilot recruitment.

Does "external recruitment" mean / include the CTC / OAA cadets (not FPP) that they are sourcing, or do they mean DEP?

Just a health warning about that statement bex: about two months back it's author attended a SEP forum and told the assembled bunch of flight crew about forthcoming plans, mix of DEPs and FPPs he expected to see, and roughly when. Two weeks later the plan had all changed, and since I had paraphrased the SEP forum comments here I was left a tad red faced.

I don't doubt the author is telling it as he sees it today but whilst he is very very highly placed in the Flight Ops food chain we know commercial are well capable of springing surprises. Whilst the statement is better than an information vacuum I'd still add a note of caution until we see in print both the results of the Fleet plan and then Cassandra (internal bid process ) results.

Wise words as always Wiggy.

Oh I dunno bex, in a month or so it's quite possible we will discover I've been talking out of my **** again.....

It would be nice to give the swimmer some definite good news.....

Anyhow, back to the annual quiz..:sad:

I have a feeling that once JSS is in place we won't need as many pilots as before, FPP or DE.

...Or on the other hand, maybe BA will; when most of the senior crystallized pension guys leave in disgust over not being able to tailor their life anymore in the way they were used to with bidline.

Some might go but TBH I think the amount of tailoring currently available simply through "basic" bidline and picking lines at Stage one and juicy trips at Stage two is overstated, trip swapping was a better weapon. Yes the Page one pilots can almost tailor things but below that vaunted position you quickly run into compromise territory.

Anyhow I see debate has kicked off again elsewhere as to what will actually happen when JSS is introduced. Some suspect the senior guys will "suffer", others think with JSS all the carp will drop through to the junior rosters. I think we will only which way things are going to go when we see JSS and the effect of it's much anticipated inhibitors in action.

It may be a way off yet anyway. The word on the street is that JSS is delayed at least 6 months with the development budget being heavily scrutinised by the Waterworld Accountants.

Who knows. :hmm:

dropping down to the bottom? No change there then.

More to the point you can't say BA does not have a sense of humour. Every year it's the same......50 questions on the tech quiz and the last one or two are always about fatigue

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41193122

Is this true for flight deck as well ?