My friend over there has pretty much the same things to say. The new Cathay deal sounds like a dead-end for anyone who doesn't plan on making a career out of the place, and even that seems a far less attractive prospect than it has been in the past. Pay's dropping like a rock - they're down to "C-Scale" now for new hires, which means a lower, separate payscale from folks who signed on before they changed the terms of employment, and no housing allowance to boot. The company makes it very clear that they expect you to live in Hong Kong unless you're one of the people who signed on to be based elsewhere in the past. The wildly different numbers people are quoting for RHS and LHS upgrade times are because nobody's really sure yet - Cathay just recently upped the retirement age from their old standard of 55 all the way up to ICAO's 65. That's a lot of people who aren't going anywhere anytime soon. The only thing that could dampen that blow would be if the company was still growing like mad, but that's not really the case anymore, either.

The latest terms suggest they're not really interested in anybody but locals and desperate young expats hitting a wall in their career. If you're one of the latter, I suggest you do a lot more research than hitting the usual internet gripe boards.

 

Sounds like you have A LOT of research to do...
6,000$ a month is not what you will take home, even if it was this is barely enough to live.

As a SO you will not get a type rating, and as many have stated already many airlines will not accept any of your SO or P3 time.

Do hard research... coming on here and asking questions is good, but you need to go to websites and see just how much apartments are in HK, how much food costs in HK etc etc etc. HK is one of the most expensive cities to live in on the planet.

If you have family in HK that you can live with, go for it... If you dont good luck, your gonna need it.

 

Is the SO position at DragonAir a better deal than at CX? Shorter times to the right seat?

 

http://www.pprune.org/south-asia-far...interview.html

There is a long thread with more information on it that you will want to know

 

If Cathay had to resort to going to India to recruit pilots with 250hrs that should tell you tons about this job.

 

Like I said currently 4 years to upgrade to JFO and the current captain upgrade candidates are at the 11.5 year mark when they check out....no one knows what the future holds. There is a 5 year limit on the P2X (SO) rating per the HKCAD, so unlikely that upgrade to FO will ever stretch past the 5 year mark. Also, it seems that I will take 17 years to upgrade due to age 65 being brought in. All that did was delay the retirement of the top 250-350 guys for 10 years. When they start to retire and if CX stays with the current plan to have 200 jets by 2020 then the people joining today will enjoy faster progression than I have. CX could also decide they want to hire captains again like they did in 2008 or FOs ahead of suitably qualified SOs also in 2008 that would slow things down.

I still do not recommend it as a career. I have refused to write letters of recommendation for several friends as I believe that I would be doing them a disservice. They were all experienced guys with plenty of experience. Come to CX with 250 hours, fly all over the world with 18 days off per month for ~3-4 years. Upgrade to FO, fly your 1000 hours in the right seat of a wide body and then find something better before you are 30. While the total time as an SO might not count some places (it is still considered SIC time in the US...as there is no requirement for a type rating to be SIC, requirement for SIC to be typed is ICAO), but you can say that you have 3-4 years of international experience and you can answer questions at an interview about international ops and trans oceanic ops.

Zon,

Approx 600 sq. ft. place in Discovery Bay (south side of Lantau island next to Disney), where a lot of pilots (CX, Fedex, corporate, HK Airlines...) live, will set you back about 12-18K a month plus utilities (water is cheap, electricity is not, cable TV is awful). Western food is roughly 25-45% more than it is back home (a package of italian sausage from the US is $4 back in the US, it is 6-7 USD here is HK). Of course, you could go with the meat and chicken and all other manner of things from China, but good luck with that.

No housing allowance for new joiners or freighter only crew. New joiners get a taxable amount added to their paycheck every month (so right away you lose 15% of it). As an SO, I believe that the monthly Hong Kong Pilot Allowance is 10,000HKD. Compare that to the current expat housing allowance that expat SOs enjoy of near 70,000HKD per month...and if they rent there is only a 10% increase to the taxable salary.

Training takes from between 4-6 months to finish, not including the time spent in Adelaide.

If you can stand the middle east, I would go there. Alot different than back home but a better career. Friends that joined (EK) a year after I did are already checking out as 777 skippers and another friend just offered the job is looking at a left seat within 4-5 years...again I am staring at another decade of a 15 knot crosswind limit (really good for the skills).

FO

 

Just announced that CX is parking 9 747s over the next 2 and a half years and parking BCFs (but this was expected as the 747-8Fs get delivered). So add 2-3 years to my forecasts....minimum.

CX is not a career airline anymore.

FO.

 

But on the other hand they are still receiving A330's B777's 748's so I guess those guys on the 744's will switch to a different fleet. Now it's just me assuming that.

Cheers

Larry

 

Heard CX told it's new S/O's that if they did not sign to passenger (Not operate) on freighters they would be fired! CX has a history of constantly harrassing/threatening their pilots. Might wanna get a copy of the 49ers book. Stay as far away form CX as you can!

 

That is 100% true.

Yes, new aircraft are arriving but the growth has been pushed back.

FO.