ucsspirit

I know this is a bit of a stretch, but I was wondering if any Australian pilots roam the forum? My wife is Australian, and I am in the process of converting my licenses so we can move down there. The big question is how do the majors in Oz stack up pay wise to the big U.S. carriers? Please feel free to PM me and give me any information you feel is pertinent.

captjns

You may find more information on PPrune.

The Dominican

Well....., we still have a steady stream (although not large numbers) of Aussie pilots leaving carriers there to come fly at AJX...., The last two pilots I trained were from the Qantas Cargo outfit.. (separate to mainline) I would do some research in your shoes...!

If moving to OZ is something you both have your minds set on..., you would do better considering a commuting gig.

Just my 2 cents....., I don't work in OZ so take it with a large grain of salt.

badflaps

I see you don't spend much time on APC, The Dominican has about a 99% accuracy rate. Worth heeding.

Groundpointfife

Pprune will provide much better information on conditions. As far as I can tell though you'll be better compensated in the USA with lower taxes. The work rules are better in the USA too. Ask how they bid for flying.

Qantas did not hire from 2008 for quite a few years, then they entered into an agreement with Emirates to do flying for them. Currently I believe you'd start as a second officer with Qantas. There are opportunities with Jetstar, tiger and Virgin Australia.

A lot of pilots went to HK or the Middle East just to find work as a pilot....or even places like Air Japan (read jobs not in Australia)

US aviation also is quite a bit bigger than Aussie aviation, tell them that one airline in the US has over 10k pilots and you'll see what I mean. As of March this year CASA had 7400 ATPLs.

Qantas looks to women to solve looming pilot shortage

Do your homework, I hope it works out well for you and I'm sure you can have a great career down there. If you've noticed that the regional airlines are doing E3 visas for aussies, it is a way for Australian pilots to build jet time and become more competitive applicants back home- but the regionals in the states benefit by not needing to raise wages as quickly as if they were only hiring US citizens or green card holders.

ucsspirit

I appreciate all the responses, you all are pointing me in the right direction. The move ( not set in stone ) is more for my wife, to be around her family which I have nothing against. I just want to make sure I am employable down under.

I noticed Skywest and the E3 visa the other day and kinda laughed. I didnt think it had got that bad in the U.S. yet.

Groundpointfife

It's not that bad in the USA, as I said, just a technique so they can fill classes without upping pay.

SkyWest, Mesa, Compass, Trans States and GoJet are advertising they will hire E3 visa holders. Endeavor is not.

Having family around is always nice, especially if you have kids. My suggestion though is get on with a major (Virgin, WN) or legacy here in the USA and live close to your family. Then use your days off and vacation to visit her family. If you work there and have your family visit, you might be flown down to min days off (10/month) with rosters built for you by the company- even with some seniority. Seniority when you have it is a great thing in the states.

Kenny

I was an RJ puke for the best part of 9 years here and then moved back to Oz to fly for Virgin for over 5 years. Been back in the US&A now for just over 2 years at a Legacy.

My advice...don't do it. The pay sounds far better when you compare AU$ to US$ but the cost of living is unlike anything you'll have experienced here in the US. Unless you're used to Manhattan or The Bay Area.

Here are the figures...

3rd year 737 FO...AU$150k (FO's top out at 3rd year)
Yearly Tax...AU$40k

I'd be doing my command training now if I hadn't left. So 7 years to command and on AU$220k but paying AU$80k in taxes. A new hire now would wait around 15 years at best.

Weekly food bill...AU$250-300 for 2 people.
Weekly rent...AU$650. One bedroom apt in Sydney
Gas..AU1.50/ltr...around AU$5.60/gal
Daycare...AU$150/day or about AU$1000/month for 3 days a week.
Car tax...AU$1200/year
Utilities(Gas/Electric)...AU$500/qtr
Cell phones x2...AU$300/month
Average house price in excess of AU$ 1million.
Etc,etc

All in all we paid around AU$480000 for 5 years of taxes and rent. And for most of that time the AU$ was on parity with the US$.

ucsspirit

Kenny,

Thanks for the break down. I understand the cost of living is much higher, I spend a fair amount of time there with me in laws and wife. you put great information out there to consider.

Kenny

No wuckin' furries...

The deal changer for living in Oz is kids. Take one salary out of the equation and add the cost of a kid or two and you go from being able to save $$ and treat yourself to a night out occasionally, to living pay cheque to pay cheque. We weren't prepared to do that and I was extremely lucky to get a job back here that wasn't a regional.

Not sure where your in laws are but Melbourne isn't too far behind Sydney and of course Brisbane and Adelaide are less again. Sydney though, is the junior base for Qantas, Virgin, Tiger and Jet*. Brisbane is an extremely senior base for QF and VA.

Oh and as far work rules are concerned, I'd say they were far better there than they are here. I wish I got a company paid taxi to and from work, after an international trip or a company paid hotel, if I'm too tired to drive home.

Also, bidding was much better at VA; they had a PBS system that actually worked, rather than the convoluted and complicated system I've given up trying to work with here.