Probe , 02-04-2013 01:03 AM
Don't say Guppy
Reality check.
20k a month. Some, yes. A few even better with overtime. But if you are med down for 2-8 months of the year, how much did you make per month? I believe 12 of our 15 expats pilots last year lost at least 2 months pay for "medical". One lost 7 or 8 months.
320-330.
Sichuan Airlines - has been done it at least once.
Hainan Airines - last I heard (July), all 8 failed their checkrides.
Tianjin Airlines - promising it for over a year, don't an A330 in stock.
BCA - Promising it for 3 years, don't have an A330 in stock
Air China - I don't know but if anybody has done it they are still an FO.
Sorry, #2 Captain. Not PIC
190-320
Tianjin Airlines only - No one has done it.
5 years out of type/cockpit? We had one of those. He came, he left. He quit another job because of the job offer here. The 22 year olds in the Foreign Pilot Office said yes. The CAAC said no. He was here less than 2 weeks.
In reality, yes you can make 18-20k a month, most months on a 320 or 737 in China. That is all you can reasonably expect, IF you get the job. The rest are a combination of "pipe dreams" of the pilots running the airlines, and a carrot to hold out in front of you to get you to apply.
Foreign bases? Yes, but that mostly means you will deadhead to PEK or PVG, and then fly for your 6/2 rotation, then deadhead home. Chinese pilots get a huge premium for international trips. Double pay. Some maybe better. You won't be seeing a lot of Paris in the summer. You will be flying what the Chinese don't want to fly. Same same most expat jobs.
Air China started foreign bases maybe 3 years ago. The expats just flew to China and then back home. I think it lasted 6 months, and the Chinese pilots bi&%$#ed. The Chinese pilots won. Of course. It is their company, we are just hired guns for a couple of years.
Most of the expats pilots I know in China wished we lived and worked in Hong Kong.