Originally Posted by
The Dominican
I think you are giving them way, and I do mean way too much credit, this is not about training from the ground up within the company culture or anything that noble, this is about cheap labor. If in the future they find themselves starving for quality commanders, they just pull the DEC card and voila'
No comment regarding the new recruitment policy, but contrary to popular belief, it is not that easy to hire DEC's at CX.
1.) Per the conditions of service, direct entry captains are not allowed at CX. They have to be hired as FO's... then rapid command upgraded on the freighter. Even that is no longer allowed. (good luck passing training as a DEC at CX anyways!)
2.) The only reason it happened briefly on the freighter in 2008 was there were several retired CX and British British Airways skippers on the market when Oasis went bust who were readily available and current with Hong Kong CAD 747-400 P1 ratings. And even they were hired as FO's initially.