DC8DRIVER

OK. Got it. And thanks to you and the three or four posters here who have offered such a wealth of information for us outsiders. Very helpful (just wish everyone would take the time to read all 80 pages prior to asking redundant questions.)

I'm sure I'll be pestering you all with inane inquiries when my turn to declare the emergency comes around (if, indeed, it really does come around).

8

BTW - Do individual pilots have the opportunity to negotiate anything extra into their contracts when it comes time to sign on the dotted line, or are the contracts set in stone?

The Dominican

By their own nature, contracts are contracts and they are all unique so in principle yes. But the reality in practice is that they do have a lot of applicants that would take the contract "as is" so it is unlikely they would make a deviation from what is being offered on the first contract, when you sign your second contract though you are able to negotiate part time for example and work 15 on 15 off. If you are referring to a residence contract so that you could live in Japan, at the time they are not offering this option it is a commuting contract only.

You are welcome sir.

TheProfessionalPilot

Currently, what is the average 3 bedroom rental going for in a reasonable distance from the airport? Also what are the taxes like? I saw the original posts... read as far as I could stand, but I can't read 80 pages of chit chat!!! LoL I have a new born to take care of and a job to do

TheProfessionalPilot

Also the commutting allowance: is it deposited as part of your paycheck and whatever isn't used is yours, or is it a reimbursement? IE: can the commutting expense be used however I need to use it? IE crashpad etc

The Dominican

Rents vary depending on where is it that you want to live, If you decide to live in the Tokyo metropolitan area is going to cost you that first born you are talking about, anywhere from $2,500 to $7,000 USD for a small 2 or 3 bedroom apartment in the most popular areas of the city. Narita is not that expensive and you could get a three bedroom home for around $125,000Y or about $1,500 USD/ Month. $2,000/ Month can get you a fairly decent three bedroom home the further you get from the city center. , a 2,000 square feet three bedroom home in the Tokyo metropolitan area (Shinagawa, Shirokane, Yokohama, Roppongi) will run you $15,000 USD/ Month. I have a small two bedroom apartment (town home style) in Narita (about 500 sf.) and I am paying 70,000Y / Month or about $825 USD.

Since this is a commuting contract and you are not going to get residency status in Japan, you are exempt from Paying taxes in Japan but Uncle Sam will get his cut, if you live in the US and commute from the US, then you are NOT going to be eligible for the foreign residency exemption of your first $94,000 USD (if I,m not mistaken, that is what it is) but you can make quite a bit of deductions with your housing and per diem allowances while you are abroad, consult a tax professional on this matter.

You either get the business class ticket or the $2,000 commuting allowance deposited on your pay every month . You also have the option of choosing from month to month the $2,000 or the C class ticket.

Now having said that, your question seem to be geared towards somebody who is thinking about actually living in Japan, I just want to make clear that the company is NOT sponsoring residence visas and that this is a commuting contract ONLY. If you are thinking about living in Japan, you have to arrange residency status by other means (your wife getting an English teaching job, you are married to a Japanese lady, ETC)

ADSky

Hey guys,
Not much movement here lately.
How is the transition going?

The Dominican

Hello ADSky

Still flying separate rosters with the cargo guys predominately flying freight, transition training is going on right now and the F/O's are being assigned both duties at the moment (guys are not happy) the cargo captains are slowly being rotated to do passenger flights with company RTC's and the last stage is that the passenger captains will do some flights on the cargo side, as to why the cargo guys have to fly with RTC's and get 8 sectors of OJT but the passenger guys can just go do a regular cargo flight is a mystery to everyone but this is a requirement that the JCAB imposed, they even have a training syllabus that includes the use of WX RADAR as part of the training, I guess the cargo guys haven't used their radars on the past 4 years!! LOL!

The lines won't be integrated within a roster (mix of pax/cargo within the same roster) until the next Japanese calendar year that starts in March, the hiring schedule for next year is for 32 pilots (4 classes of 8) ANA wanted 60 but the training department said they could only train 32 due to lack of sim time available because of the transition training going on right now of F/O upgrades to 767 captains since the majority of 787 captains are coming from the 76, so if you are coming in next year expect the sim slot to be a "red eye"

The Dominican

Japan's ANA to launch budget carrier

(AFP) – 5 days ago
TOKYO — Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) will launch a low-cost carrier operating both international and domestic short-haul routes, anticipating booming Asian travel demand, the airline said Thursday.
The new company will be established by the end of this year, ANA said, and aims to begin services out of Kansai International Airport, Osaka, in the second half of 2011.
The carrier said it had signed an agreement with Hong Kong-based private equity firm First Eastern Investment Group to establish "the first Japanese low-cost airline" in a bid to reshape the country's costly air travel market.
Japan's existing cheaper domestic carriers such as Skymark and Air Do have been unable to offer the kind of heavily discounted fares associated with budget airlines in the United States and Europe due to higher operating costs.
Japan still has the highest landing fees in the world.
But Shinichiro Ito, president and chief executive of ANA, told a press conference Thursday that the planned new carrier, which will operate independently from ANA, would offer tickets at half current fare levels.
Ito added that fares would be low enough to attract customers in Asia who were previously deterred by price.
"By offering unprecedented rates, we will reach audiences who never left their country because of price," said Ito.
ANA said it would cut costs by requiring customers to pay for all in-flight services and operate only with e-tickets.
The airline's move comes as international competition is set to rise as Tokyo's Haneda airport -- located nearer the capital than main hub Narita -- will begin serving more foreign routes this year with a fourth runway.
Qantas Airways' budget Jetstar airline already flies between Japan and Australia.
The carrier "came to the conclusion that a low cost carrier would be the right approach to compete effectively in this market," Ito said.
ANA is also looking to capitalise on the woes of its rival, Japan Airlines, which has recently shed routes as part of a painful state-led restructuring programme.
JAL said last week it was also looking into the possibility of launching a low-cost carrier.
Another catalyst for ANA is the boom in travel between China and Japan.
The Japan Tourism Agency aims to almost quadruple the number of Chinese tourists to 3.9 million in 2013 from 1.01 million last year.
"Regardless of the intense competition in the air transportation industry, we anticipate an increase in passenger traffic demand in East Asia," said Ito.
He said ANA had begun looking into the possibility of launching a low-cost carrier in 2008, before the eruption of the global financial crisis slashed air travel demand and hammered the industry.
The new company will be 66.7 percent owned by Japanese investors, with ANA holding a 39 percent stake.
First Eastern will hold the remaining 33.3 percent stake, the maximum foreign ownership currently allowed in Japan.
ANA's move comes as struggling rival JAL recently announced details of a rehabilitation plan that will see thousands of job cuts as well as route closures and a debt waiver.
In January the flagship carrier went under, owing 26 billion dollars in one of Japan's biggest-ever corporate failures, but it has continued flying while undergoing a painful state-led restructuring process.
-- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this story --

EXPAT1

Do the current ANA pilots think this will be growth and add to Ex Pat pilot jobs or will ANA just shift mainline to a low cost model? Could the recent surplus of JAL pilots fill these cockpits? Just trying to gage what ANA is trying to accomplish here, is it growth or just moving to a low cost model.

The Dominican

I'll address this one in two parts; ANA's core business is the business traveler and freight around S.E. Asia, if you look at the seating configuration of the A/C's you will see that this is what they focus on with half of the A/C dedicated to business class and on the 777's and 744's over half the A/C is first and business, this business model will remain unchanged and will expand as the Asia market expands with the introduction of the 787 and the 777's and 767's that are in order (see the article bellow)

The LLC is a different business venture that will supply a need within the domestic market in Japan while ANA takes advantage of the void created with the weak position of its major competitor. ANA is not shifting its business model but rather growing "tentacles" if you will.

Now, Where are the pilots to fill the positions that will be created coming from? the answer has changed over time because some time ago it was said that the JAL pilots were going to get interviews for the ANA subsidiaries (namely AJX)but now the latest is that it is "not possible" (the relationship between this two pilot groups is well....! not friendly) other rumors were that the LLC was going to hire JAL pilots and recently ANA announced that this positions were going to be filled with "foreign pilots" so as to the question if the JAL displaced pilots will come to ANA I personally won't go as far as others in saying that it is "not possible" and I will only speculate that "if" they come to the ANA group, it won't be in large numbers and only to the subsidiaries or the LLC, I seriously doubt that you will see them coming into mainline ANA.

Where are these guys going then? the only airline that is in trouble in Japan is JAL, all other airlines are growing and taking advantage of increased business, Skymark, Air Do, StarFlyer, Fuji Dreams, J-Air all these companies have stopped its hiring of foreign pilots and is hiring nothing but JAL pilots at the moment, non for the exception of J-Air has canceled its foreign pilots but rather just focus the hiring on the JAL pilots.
Another aspect of it all is that people are pretty much counting JAL out of the picture and this company is not going anywhere, this company for the first time in its history is being run as a business and not just as the "flag carrier" as it has in the past, as fast as things change in aviation where a week is as long as a decade, I think we will witness a surprising turn around of this company sooner rather than later. My prediction is that you will see A/C orders to modernize the fleet at JAL within five years and hiring to follow soon there after. No? the beauty of it all is that we will get to see it!