Gentlemen and Ladies,

Please also consider:

1. Dubai has a high cost of living. Education allowance does not completely cover the cost of children attending the American School of Dubai,(ASD) which is the only "not-for-profit" USA curriculum school in the city. There are other schools offering USA curricula, however they are owned privately and operate "for profit". Currently, it is costing me 2000 Dhs/month to send one (1) child to ASD. That is significant. Vehicle insurance costs are high, approximately 4.5-6% of the purchase value of your vehicle per year.
2. The pace of work here, compared to a unionized major carrier will be at variance to what you are accustomed to. The JAR maximum of 100 hours/28 days is regularly exercised and near max (90-95 hrs/month) are used as blocking targets. Overtime is not voluntary, it is mandated. The credit hours greatly favour the company of course. The clock stops running when you set the brake at the gate - so while you sign the aircraft tech-log, complete safety related paperwork, wait for the pax to de-plane, (and for whom you are still responsible) you are working for free. You are credited/payed the nominal value of block time as determined by the company. For example if you have a tech snag after push back, you are on your own time. No overtime eligibilty during months with vacation, or recurrent training. This can hurt, because you can still work your ass off and get zip for it. The new "stand-by" system is horrible. It is a period, approx. once per year, of 30-35 days of continuous rolling standby. Days off are awarded daily by the rostering department. The minimum Flight Time Limitation of 7 days/month free of duty will apply. You may not have vacation or bid for days off during a standby month. Put that in your papers and smoke it...
3. Most of you can work out the numbers, but anyone hired from now on is basically going to be a career FO. Don't be dazzled by the prospect of growth.

Please think carefully Compadres.

hiplanesdrifter