What about some of the airlines lowering their standards a bit. It doesn't need to be a drastic cut but something reasonable. The hours required for entry seem awfully high, maybe shaving of a 200 or so might help the problem somewhat?

How much do JQ, QF, and DJ (and I guess now TT) pay pilots?

Fair enough Chris - I don't know the history of other members on this board, and I admit I don't know the Jetstar cabin crew EBA down to the letter. That's true Gareth I didn't take into account the 3 year scale, I was just going by starting salary.

But I did want to make sure that correct information/facts were raised with regards to Team Jetstar, rather than a lot of rumour which was initially spread back when it launched. Our base salary and flying allowance is also subject to a 3% increase each year of the agreement. And you're right in that staff travel initially was on shakey ground for us back in December but it was soon agreed that we would receive equal entitlements to the JQ crew which was good news.

Anyhow, thanks for that guys. (Sorry, back to pilots, just addressing previous posts!)

Russell, what is so high about 500hrs Command??

That's the Qantas requirement. 500hrs Command can be obtained in about 8-9 months if you're employed in GA. Absolutely nothing.

Mick

I fully agree with you Michael, but I was mainly referring to the fact that airlines have minimum requirements but seem to only accept people exceeding those minimum standards by significant amounts. For example, I'm guessing that not many people with the minimum 500hrs Command (or even a couple hundred more for that matter) get accepted to often. Naturally the airlines will take anyone with more experience over someone with lesser experience, but if they are really desperate for pilots, wouldn't increasing their acceptance rate of employing people at least help fill the gap?

On another note, the QF Cadetship program doesn't guarantee employment, not even in the desperately pilot-short Qantaslink alias.

P.S. Is there any place where rough estimates of pilot pay rates in Australia can be found? Or can someone shed some light for me please? Just like to know as personal information. Cheers

Just about sums it up.

Quite a few jobs being advertised in the Friday Australian, the minimum requirements are a lot lower than only a few years ago