Good question. To be honest, the answer should be no. Both fleets are now running upgrades at over 3 years. That means there is zero need for DECs. That doesn't say much though because the only time they actually needed DECs was for the surprise arrival of the A340-300s.

Nothing against DECs personally, but the hiring of them now will only serve to further push back the upgrades of highly qualifed first officers who have served more than 3 years.

What they really should do is hire Second Officers at much lower minimum time levels. That would be a much more financially intelligent way to run the airline.



Typhoonpilot