Quote:
Originally Posted by CE750
My wife has been reading on some of the cultural restrictions there which appear to be much more in line with Saudi than with Dubai and she's scared.. I'm also reading (sadly on PPRUNe) of a lot of discontent with upgrade/DEC etc.. I've also got an interview with EK the following month, it will be interesting to see what both offer.. To be honest though, I'd dump both if I could just find a decent AND STABE job here in the US! 
If in fact they could make it commutable, I would be far more inclined..
I've also got an in on an A300-600 startup cargo in China, but then we're back to crap pay and no medical! |
Etihad is still hiring DEC's on the 330/340, basically to handle expansion as training can't keep up with FO upgrades. They are trying their best to promote from within but DEC's are necessary, so far the hiring ratio is six FO's for each captain.
Captains need to be rated but copilots dont need to, the Boeing 777 fleet is hiring copilots with glass experience such as 737NG, 744, 75, 76, or any bus experience. The unhapiness is mainly from Europeans who have seen a decline in earnings with the drop in the USD which the Dirham is pegged to.
Some complaints are about upgrades, EY wants the 320 fleet to be the entry point for new captains (internally upgraded) and as it was an all widebody airline the potential new captains perceive a loss of prestige flying a "little" aircraft on regional routes. The talk here is that after a year the 320 guys will ccq on the 330 with all bus drivers flying the 330 along with either the 340 or 320 but not all types.
The lifestyle is great here, at least for me, there are no Saudi type restrictions and the wives seem to keep pretty busy with the usual things,interest clubs, bridge, golf, shopping etc. We tend to go out alot, but you must take a taxi or have a designated driver as the drink driving laws are very strict, if busted expect at least a month in jail and deportation.
Housing is a serious problem here, housing cannot keep up with recruitment. Married new joiners have preference over single guys when it comes to villa and apartment allocations, makes sense because if the wife is unhappy you loose the pilot. Single pilots can expect to stay in temporary accomodation until a flat is found for them. Some buildings house cockpit and cabin, which can make life interesting for the single guy (or unacompanied married guy) as Etihad has a very international crew group and some of the girls are a bit attractive
.
The diversity is amazing, on a recent ULR flight we had nine languages between the four pilots and about the same amount of nationalites between the twelve cabin crew.
I'm a pilot so can very easily bit*h about things but overall I'm not unhappy here, remember you must take pprune with a certain amount caution as a very vocal minority can skew other opinions.
On last thing I'd like to add, the crew treat the pilots very well on flights, they always offer the goodies from the back (not like the grannies in my last company) I have eaten a crew meal once in the last year and that was by choice, didnt feel like the steak or lobster.
Similar Threads
Linear Mode
