аэрофлот (Aeroflot)
 

Anybody else here has done some research on the above airline?

My recent search has revealed a significant expansion foreseen. The following is a snippet of the stated aircraft orders:

• 12 A319/A320/A321 family
• 22 A350
• 50 B737
• 16 B777
• 22 B787
• significant amount of SSJ

One can only but imagine the quantity of pilots required to fulfill the forthcoming seats in the aircraft. Yes, Aeroflot has its own aviation school but they are unable to produce the needed number of pilots per year (120 fresh pilot graduates is the current rate). A new terminal ('D' I believe) is soon to be opened at Sheremetyovo Airport solely for Aeroflot.
Recently there have been statements that the airline is willing to open its doors to foreign pilots. The changes in laws are still required though to allow this to happen. Initially I believe one had to be a Russian citizen (and of course know the Russian language). Maybe now those requirements are not necessary.

The package seems to be promising too:

• up to 10,000 Eur a month
• 70 days a year vacation (paid naturally)
• good pension plans
• family benefits
• and so on

All that and you do get to live in a great city (I've been there a couple of times myself as a tourist).

Anybody else has any ideas related to this?



PS: please leave aside any 'funny' comments regarding the Russian way of life and culture. Every country has its own particularities, good ones and not very popular ones.
PSS: for those who are tempted to write 'comrade', please note that the Russian word for comrade is actually 'товарищ' (tavarish).

The T&C'S have indeed improved dramatically in Aeroflot in the past decade, this is an interesting development in the worldwide pilots job market, I'm curious to see how much accommodation to other cultures they will provide within the company to attract suitable candidates, companies like Korean have had problems with a culturally uncomfortable environment for expats and that has been the topic of conversation lately, money is not the only measure that is attractive of a job, the company has to make an effort to be inclusive if they want to be successful at attracting quality personnel. Even if this particular job is not what you are looking for, I think that every market that opens up influences better terms in other markets.

That's a fair point raised - how the Russians will accommodate to foreigners. I may be biased as I have a few Russian friends, but I do not think foreigners would be left to feel like a bad potato in a sack. I have received some very positive attitudes from Russians while I was in Moscow. Of course there will be some who may not like the idea of foreigners in their land but I believe this number to be a rather low percentage and such attitudes can be experienced in any other country.

So on the whole I would have a positive feeling to the level of acceptance within Russia.

Actually Moscow is a great city. I would however point out that there is a pretty big neo Nazi problem occuring in Russia right now. Random attacks on anyone who doesnt look Russian is becoming more common. Just an FYI. Moscow may be more difficult for some to live in than others. And yes, I was in Moscow and seen one of these "gangs" myself.

These feelings often change when you're perceived as taking a job from a local. I'm not saying it would happen in eastern Europe - I've never been there - but it does happen. The corporate culture at your place of employment will make a big difference, as well as your own ability to fit in.

I post it here from another thread:

Aeroflot pilot pay has come up significantly; just a little while ago wasn’t good at all.
Captains: $10-11K
AFL A330 Captains make close to $14K, but fly worldwide ops (exp. USA) with 2 men crews regardless of flight time. No typo.
FO's: $4-7K
Everyone flies very close to 92 hours of block time/month for that pay, which is Russian legal monthly limit. Everyone is flight planned for M.81 in cruise. If you manage to fly your schedule and still are legal for an extra trip - they will assign it to you at the very end of the month.

The fleet is new, but they run it like they are in the 80's - no acars, no cpdlc, yes you will have to get atis over the radio, no comms with dispatch in flight in fact many airlines still don't have dispatchers at all. Once you get in the cockpit – you are on your own.

Flying deep inside Russia could be very challenging. The weather can be the worst on the planet. Very few people speak English, including the crew members.

Very inexperienced FO’s – 80 hours TT in cessnas or Yak-18T for a new pilot is a norm, many are returning to flying after 10-15 years totally out of the industry.

Moscow looks very European now and is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Traffic is bad. Currently Aeroflot is providing the housing to the pilots that are not from Moscow area. They shuttle people from SVO to a hotel in the nearby town. Nothing to write home about, but it is ok. The common complaint is that there is nowhere to eat around the hotel espessially after 19:00.
Terrible to non-existant healthcare system. If you do go there you will oppose social medicine for the rest of your life.

No seniority system. Whoever is connected gets to upgrade, whoever brings wine to scheds flies better trips.
For connected guys there is an upgrade program designed for pilots with less than 800 hours total time. 24-25 year old captains is a norm now, but you will also see 50+ y.o. FO’s.

8 days off per month is max, 4-5 average. Lots of red eyes. They do have good vacations - 30-40 days per year. Training is on days off.

Very long IOE's - up to 6 months. Aeroflot has ground school programs up to 2 years. Pay in training - ~$800/month.

Russian mentality is to cut the corners. If you are not comfortable with it you will not last long.

Terminal D at SVO has been operational for close to 2 years.

The foreign pilots are still not allowed to man the russian AIRLINE crews.
The russian government is working to change that responding to the pressure from individual airlines. Hopefully soon.

Once the bill becomes the law expect the russian recruiters at the pilot career fairs in the US.

There is a system of flight training education in Russia. Kids can choose between 2 four-year universities and 3 two-year colleges around the country that have pilot programs. Collectively they pump out aprox 600 graduates per year.

Additionally about 50-100/year are separated from the millitary.

Obviously it is not enough, so will see what happens.

If you don't mind, where have you heard this?
Aeroflot leadership doen't have any idea on what to offer yet. They do think though that with their current pay/conditions they will be flooded with applicants once the law goes through.

Some links from the data I posted:

Basic News regarding pilot shortage situation in Russia:
Russia mulls ending foreign pilot employment ban | RUSSIA | The Moscow News
Airlines Hurry to Recruit Pilots During Shortage | The St. Petersburg Times | The leading English-language newspaper in St. Petersburg

News related to Russia lifting ban on foreign pilots:
Russia to allow carriers to hire foreign pilots | ATWOnline

Aeroflot Benefits:
�абор пилотов | ��рофлот

Aeroflot hiring page (one of the many online):
Aeroflot Jobs | Pilot Jobs, Flight Attendant Jobs and Maintenance Career Opportunities

I was in Moscow in a G-4 many years ago. An Aeroflot crew parked next to us asked to look in our airplane and afterward invited me to look inside theirs. Their plane looked like a brand new Tu-134 or something close to that. I was walking up the steps to the airplane, was about 3 steps from the cabin door when the nasty odor hit me in the face. The interior looked new and clean but stunk to high heaven. The lav smelled like a cess pool. The cockpit was new and clean but looked like something out of the 1950's, hundreds of black and white instruments and dials.

Things may be different now but, good luck.

No careers site on the Aeroflot website either.


According to the web site... last update was a year and a half ago.

It is unfortunate that such gangs exist. The world would be best without them. However, there are similar gangs in Germany too. There's quite a bit of Nazism going on and in certain cities there are facts stating that 1 in 4 people still believe in Nazism (in particular regions/cities). I've seen this myself - demonstrations held in the city causing roads to be closed; young men saluting each other in a Nazi style knowing that the fine for such an action could be up to 800-Eur...

Bottom line is, there's bound to be gangs in any other country. But we'd be better off without them.

The English updates are not very good, true. However here's a link to careers on the Aeroflot website (it's in Russian though). Вакан�ии | ��рофлот

Of course, at this moment I doubt foreign applications would be taken too seriously as the laws are still to be changed to reflect the hiring of foreigners. Question is when will this happen?

It will have to happen, the situation in Russia is not different than the situation in Japan, massive retirements coupled with growth and the pilot making machine not producing enough warm bodies to replace them, but in Russia there is another aspect to it all, the reason why the salaries have gone up from a couple of thousand dollars a month to what it is now, is not because their airline managers are nice guys, it is because in the last decade in top of massive retirements they have experienced a huge brain drain, and the pilots that have gone out of the country to get other better paying jobs are the ones they desperately need, those that actually speak English, the same thing in Malasia, India etc. those that have the best skills overall are the ones that venture out of their country in search of jobs, and just like you have seen in Malasia, India, Thailand for example, the T&C's for the locals have increased in recent years.

Wow where do we sign up?! :o At least they have the hottest flight attendants in the world!

So it's like Colgan, but you actually get paid?

Serious question- Why is Nazism still going so strong? And, why is Russia having a problem with gangs going around and beating up on foreigners?

I'm going to take a stab at the second question and guess that Russia has been fairly closed off to the outside world. Plus things aren't so good economically, and ****ed off people do dumb hateful things(?)

I do not know why there's still quite a bit of Nazism going on in Germany, but I've seen such demonstrations in a city. I guess that not all Germans like having their country shared with foreigners and think of themselves as a stronger nation, better off without any foreign individual. It is true that the majority of immigrants in Germany are the Turks and (the majority) due to their lack of education end up living off social welfare that the German taxpayer has to fund. This might further fuel Nazism.

As for Russia, the gangs that have been mentioned are mostly made of immigrants into Russia. The countries where they originate from is Kazakhstan, Armenia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. These immigrants are known to be the more violent and are moving to large Russian cities to try and make a better living. This is the information I have been told.

Lol, I don't know what flight you were on, but I rode Aeroflot a few times and they weren't bad, but I wouldn't say hottest in the world. I think Fly Emirates, Vueling, and Lufthansa all rank higher than Aeroflot in this category :p

A trip to the Holocaust museum should fix that.

Goes both ways. There are also plenty of Russian gangs who fight the immigration “expansion” from the mentioned and a few other countries because it is being viewed as “taking jobs and polluting the culture”. Some of the gangs do embrace the ideology of Russian/Slavic race being superior. Often the hatred is based purely on looks and languages spoken – middle eastern and asian.

I don’t think this will ever touch the foreign pilots coming to Russia. Aviation is viewed as high-tech industry, plus people will be coming on temporary contracts to reduce the shortage and immediately help Russian airlines to grow. It is the guys who dig trenches or sell things at flee markets that get beat up all the time.

Just got back from flying 4 legs on their aircraft. Above average in regards to European comparisons.

So does aeroflot hire expats or does russia only hire natives?

Hmmmm let's see. Threatening closing their airspace from the rest of the world. Sanctions from most western nations against Russia... Embargo against imports of goods from major western nations.:rolleyes:. Give it a shot and let us know how it works out for you.

They were hiring expats just a few months ago.

For those interested here ya go-
Contact info at bottom of the page.
JSC Aeroflot is recruiting pilots | Aeroflot

Aeroflot is still looking for captains from other countries. You can look the vacancy here - Captains/Pilots-in-command/A320/Russian Airlines. - Aviation Jobs | Best Aviation Jobs | Pilot Jobs | Jobs In Aviation

At my airline we train Air Astana pilot's CQ. Many of them are Russians and I recently was told that "the russian government did pass a document allowing up to 200 foreign pilots to fly for russian airlines.

Aeroflot had a group of 10 go through some sort of company indoc class, but after looking at accommodations and real pay they all left."

Word by word. Would love to hear from those who actually have gone there.

As a Westerner, even if you got hired there I'm fairly confident that your work environment might be less than what you anticipated given the current anti-American/Westerner atmosphere in Russia today.