They aren't hiring into the left seat per se, however upgrade is based wholly on seniority (and meeting the minimums to upgrade), which are their posted preferred minimums.

As I understand, they will be type rating all of the new hires through the summer during their initial training, and running them back through a short course for left seat qualifications as more captains are needed. Essentially everybody in the first few classes will most likely be flying from the right seat for IOE, then making the transition to the left seat pretty quick.

Don't know for sure, but there is probably a provision in the pilot contract that will establish dual seat qualification for a set number of junior guys. As the list grows behind them, they will move out of this "zone" and fly solely from the left seat.

I'd expect everybody hired into the first few classes to be a captain by mid summer, and everybody hired this year to be a captain by the end of next year (at the latest), based on the current/projected delivery schedule.