International/ Non U.S. AirIines

Firebird2XC

Well-Known Member
I'm starting to beat the bushes for my next gig.

I'm keeping my options open and my eyes on the horizon.

Does anybody know the current state of places like Cathay Pacific and Emirates?
What about airlines in Eastern Asia or Russia?

Any information on anyplace hiring American ex-pats would be helpful.

Personally, I have 4000+ hours (3500+ turbine multi-crew/121) and an FAA issued ATP. I also have experience in aviation maintenance, medieval, and am very comfortable living abroad.

I have particular interest in Emirates. :)
 
I've heard Cathay isn't the place to be that it once was. Not really sure about the details, but I hear that expats over there have been beating the bushes as well.

Emirates...I know a couple people over there who are happy, but I just couldn't see myself moving to Dubai. I bid a Dubai trip a few months back just to see if I could see myself living there. No way in hell, but that's just me!

ANA is hiring 767 F/Os for their Air Japan subsidiary, by the way. Might be worth looking into, and it's a commuting contract.
 
I went to one of the Emirates roadshows in Denver last year, because I happened to be in town. It was a 3 hr. long presentation, but it's more of a sale pitch! Everything sounded great and promising as far as pay, benefits and furture growth, but after talking and reading about the Emirates TODAY, it isn't the place that it used to be.

My ex-sim partner/friend is at flyDubai flying the 737-8, and he seems to enjoy it and likes living in Dubai. A lot of it depends on the person.

There seems to be a lot of opportunities in Asia right now, if you're willing to go there.
 
I've heard Cathay isn't the place to be that it once was. Not really sure about the details, but I hear that expats over there have been beating the bushes as well.

Emirates...I know a couple people over there who are happy, but I just couldn't see myself moving to Dubai. I bid a Dubai trip a few months back just to see if I could see myself living there. No way in hell, but that's just me!

ANA is hiring 767 F/Os for their Air Japan subsidiary, by the way. Might be worth looking into, and it's a commuting contract.

It would seem that nothing is what it used to be. Japan sounds nice.

What's wrong with Dubai? I admit after living in a tent for a year it doesn't take much to impress me.

I'm mostly looking for a salary kick for a few years. That, and an exit strategy from AMR.
 
I went to one of the Emirates roadshows in Denver last year, because I happened to be in town. It was a 3 hr. long presentation, but it's more of a sale pitch! Everything sounded great and promising as far as pay, benefits and furture growth, but after talking and reading about the Emirates TODAY, it isn't the place that it used to be.

My ex-sim partner/friend is at flyDubai flying the 737-8, and he seems to enjoy it and likes living in Dubai. A lot of it depends on the person.

There seems to be a lot of opportunities in Asia right now, if you're willing to go there.

I'm ruling out Asia- but I'm really mostly interested in the pay scale. The Emirates info I've found seems like they offer impressive compensation. That said, they seem to have a high turnover of employees...
 
What's wrong with Dubai? I admit after living in a tent for a year it doesn't take much to impress me.

Dubai just didn't sit well with me. The city was built on indentured labor; tens of thousands of people have had their passports confiscated and are forced to stay. The entire place just seems artificially propped up and fake.

Oh, and it's hot as blazes. But at least it's humid, too.
 
Just from the grapevine... rode with 2 CA's recently that interviewed at Emirates. They said of the guys in they're interviewing pool at Emirates almost everyone getting the call has Jet PIC time. Both offered the job, one flat out said no after visiting DXB, the other is waiting on a class date but was hoping to get a call about a class date at a major (he was already hired at) here in the US first.

Qatar on the other hand will take FOs with only SIC time if its in a jet, pay is good, tax free, but QOL hit is harder, less days off, days off away from base, Doha is not as fun, duty days are more "guidelines" than rules. We've had a couple FO's from here jump ship already this year. I talked to one, he pretty much just wanted to get his student loans paid off.

To each his own. Good Luck in your decision, keep us updated with your progress... Asia sounds better. :D
 
The way I saw it when I interviewed at Emirates is once you got the interview invite, time or experience didn't matter and they would hire everyone in that group if they felt each individual had met the criteria. I believe everything was based on some sort of a point system for each portion of the interview. Things may have changed now, but I highly doubt it as this was just one year ago. In my opinion, if you get to the interview, you have just a good a chance at getting hired as the next guy regardless of hours or experience.
 
Dubai just didn't sit well with me. The city was built on indentured labor; tens of thousands of people have had their passports confiscated and are forced to stay. The entire place just seems artificially propped up and fake.

Oh, and it's hot as blazes. But at least it's humid, too.

The WORST part of Dubai is its lack of any sort of natural fresh water source. The desalination plant(s) there are a single-point-of-failure part of the water system, and there is not anywhere near enough natural water. The whole city is a house of cards that won't survive any significant interruption to that system.
 
The WORST part of Dubai is its lack of any sort of natural fresh water source. The desalination plant(s) there are a single-point-of-failure part of the water system, and there is not anywhere near enough natural water. The whole city is a house of cards that won't survive any significant interruption to that system.
That's their fear expressed when I was doing business with them. The Colonels on the selection committee said all it would take was their neighbors to the north to release a good bit of oil to foul their desalinization plants and they were done.

Interesting that water is their most precious resource yet they plant flowers along the edge of the highway every foot and water them (Abu Dhabi airport road to city).
 
Cathay is only recruiting Second Officers via their iCadet scheme. The gist is, there are 3 'tires' of entry. No experience, An ICAO CPL/IR, and ATP entries. There is no different in the terms and conditions, just the amount of time you spend in Adelainde. The biggest difference, and rational between the iCadet and Direct Entry Second Officer of the past, is the housing allowance. I believe you only get 10,000 HKD a month housing verses 30-60K a month the direct entry pilots get. If you are single, 10,000 will pay about half or a third of a studio or 1 bedroom in the midlevels, and surrounding downtown expat communities. So with a family and needing a 1+ bedroom apartment, it will be very tough.

I have heard good things about Air Japan (ANA Charter 767), Singapore Cargo (they now have a new contract with much better T&C, especially in regards to deadheads), FlyDubai (if you can get through the CTC assessment in London). You have the hours for Eva Airways, presently they are hiring into the 747/A330 - getting the type and a few years long haul international would be huge if you ever wanted to fly contract and make the real big bucks. I had the pleausre of talking to a Qatar crew as we were clearing immigration in YUL, and they said take all the crap about Qatar on PPRuNe with grain of sand - they seemed very happy.

Good luck - it is my goal to bust into the expat community too.
 
I have a friend who has been at Emirates for maybe 15 years. He was checkairman at Skywest on the RJ but no degree. I think he's fairly happy in Dubai. Maybe not crazy about it but makes the best of it. His boys play soccer and he's a windsurfer. He's a Capt on the big Airbus. It was a good move for him to go there. I think if he stayed at Skywest he'd have been a lifer or maybe be junior at Virgin or Jetblue in his 40s with a family.
 
I have been working in Mongolia for a couple of months now. From what I hear the Japanese carriers are not too bad and generally have decent contracts. There are a couple of ANA engineers/mechanics on contract here and they are literally the best mechanics I have had the pleasure of dealing with. If the rest of the company is anything like these couple of gentlemen, and it sounds like it is, it would be a nice place to work.
 
Do they allow commuting if your schedule allows at Emirates? Or you just have to live at DXB?

Emirates does not allow you to commute. That being said, I've run into a number of people from different European countries that do go back home every time they have 3 or more days off. Commuting to the States would be much more difficult due to the number of hours it takes to get back, especially if you have to connect through another city. I've run into one Canadian that does go back home every chance he gets, but apparently that's at most 9-10 times a year for about a week at a time not counting his vacation.
 
Back
Top