Spoke to some friends at EY, it's half the pay, and you're offered a hotel while you're in base so no housing allowance.

The catch is, you have to be over 50 years old, 3 years with the company as captain. Not offered to FO's or captains under 50.

30/30 is nice, but not sure it's worth it at EY given that Chinese 30/30 contracts offer A LOT more money.

Having said that, I think this is only the tip of the iceberg.

UAE, particularly Dubai and Abu Dhabi are getting MIGHTY expensive. Lots of Americans even in other industries are leaving or looking to leave. There was an article not long ago quoting an American expat (not in aviation) that it's getting far too expensive to stick around here for what's being offered pay-wise. Basically, everything (except pay of course) has gone up between 20-40% including housing and schooling costs. In essence, given the lower cost of living in the US, even after the foreign earned income tax breaks, it appears that one is better off back home.

Given how many pilots Middle East carriers will need over the next decade or so, I think they'll have to either up the pay, or get creative with rostering schemes if they are to sustain their growth.