trafly

Has anyone flown for or interviewed with Dragonair? I know a couple Canucks who are with them, and they seems to love the lifestyle. Thanks

Kenny

I'm supposed to be interviewing with them any day now, just waiting for my phone call/email to let me know.

KA is extremely bigoted when it comes to hiring; typically they don't hire US pilots. They have always been able to attract enough Aussies/Canucks and Brits to satisfy their requirements. Added to which they've always had a relatively small pilot group and you really have to know someone. My "in" is one of the Fleet Managers.

They were bought by CX last year and from what I can gather they're in a state of flux as far as hiring is concerned. The 74's have been transfered over to CX and I think people are waiting to see what CX does with the Airbus fleet.

They look for at least 4000TT, a large amount of jet time and a type rating. If you want to stand any chance of an interview, you'll have to go and meet the peeps in HR, in Hong Kong. It makes a huge difference if you actually make the effort to go and see them.

Typhoonpilot

Dragonair was my first choice of airlines to go to in 2002. I speak relatively good Mandarin and had flown in Asia for three years previously. I had not flown the Airbus, but had over 10,000 hours total time when I applied. They did not reply to any of my applications so I decided to pay them a visit in Hong Kong. They were quite cordial and I discussed my application and desire to work for them and live in Hong Kong. A few weeks later they sent me a letter stating that I was not qualifed.

What was my crime?, I am an American.

Kenny has it right. They don't typically hire Americans. There might be a few there, but they do all of their recruiting in the UK, Australia, and Canada from what I can see.

So if you're a Yank you can pretty much forget a job with Dragonair.



Typhoonpilot

marcal

I wonder if that is still the case now that CX owns them, given the fact that CX hires americanos.

iluvetops

FYI, Dragon is not an ideal company to work for. 8 days off per month and they will fly your a$$ off....stay away if you can.

Kenny

HR is still very much done the KA way. Until that's integrated into CX, it'll stay the same.

trafly

I have a great job currently, but also a bit of wanderlust. I'm also an oddball American who has dual Citizenship (Irish), a JAA license, and language skills. Thanks for the info. Maybe I'll move to Oz or NZ instead.

oicur12

KA has its ups and downs. They are NOT anti yank but there are licence and tax issues that make Americans complex to hire.

I would much prefer to see some Americans join the company with the practical approach to flying instead of the upper crust poms we have trying to prove how difficult it is to fly an airbus.

KoruPilot

Good on ya Kenny!

A was just in HKG and had beers with a number of CX and HKX guy's, one of whom is looking at Dragon. A couple of other guy's flew the B777. All of them flew quite a bit, so I recon that unless you are on the 744 with CX you could consider that the norm. The HKX guy was looking at Dragon as well and had some good ins; thought the program looked good, busy like HKX but good money and a very good housing allowance.

Again, well done and good luck mate.

Kenny

Koru,

Yeah, unfortunately the magic call never materialised. CX taking over the KA 747's caused a few problems with KA's recruitment. It stopped, for a while anyway and another job came up. It didn't help that my contact at KA went out on Long Term Medical leave.

If you can get in, KA is a good gig. They have a comparable package to CX without the political training environment. Although the guys there would disagree, they don't work as hard as your average Regional pilot in the US.