Spring Airlines Screening Update
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Spring Airlines Screening Update
I just wanted to update you all on what to expect at Spring Airlines Screening.
As some of you know they are offering a fairly hefty compensation package, and this is attracting a fair bit of interest so I wanted to point out what is going on there.
There seem to be three contractors/4 ways to apply. The contractors who are jockeying for position to supply expats...you can also apply to Spring as a direct entrant. All pay packages are the same $11000 a month salary, 2000 living, 1500-3000 fuel bonus, 10k travel remibursement, 1000/mo safety, 500/mo loyalty - short term, $1500/mo long term loyalty. Spring makes a point to say they always pay their bills on time so...? A lot of politics going on between the contractors - Aeropersonnel has hooked up with a local Chinese company called FASCO. There is another Chinese company there as well - these two are ALWAYS politicking behind the scenes with the HR and mgmt types at Spring. Parc does not have a local hookup probably to their detriment....and advantage.
1. Aeropersonnel (small operation based in Quebec)
2. Parc
3. Chinese/Hong Kong firm (unknown name - sorry)
Here is what I know.
- You actually become an employee of Spring. The contractors are paid a finders fee only.
- The safety bonus is based on 3 QAR events - supposedly checked by pilots although none of the contractors are pilots. Slow reduction of "major" QAR events which reduces the safety bonus to zero.
- Training pay is higher than the other carriers.
- based at ZSSS, however they are considering another base (be careful here)
- most Spring pilots do not speak english so they need expats for international
- interviews stress working really really hard (is it ok if we work you past your legal CAAC limits?) and low cost environment (i.e. crappy hotels - although it seems like the expats would be home each night)
- sim profile is tough - try to get a lot of emergency training before showing up - bring your own checklist and QRH as the sim stuff is always 2-3 emergencies and the local stuff is ALL in chinese.
- medical and written are as advertised here previously standard CAAC stuff.
- when you come back - no training - you do your CAAC ride immediately with a CAAC examiner (high failure rate), THEN ground school THEN OE.
Spring is pretty new to the expat thing although they are attracting a lot of interest with the pay package. Pretty low rent airline, shoddy offices, still in terminal one at Hongchow (terminal 2 is new and ultra modern and attached to subway and rail station) although there is a bus across the airport (about a 20-25 minute cab ride as terminal 1 and 2 are on opposite sides of the airport).
Plus now they are talking about flying out of Pudong so I am not sure how that is going to work.
Bottom line - Pay is great. Spring is pretty small but profitable but also cheap. You will be higher paid than any other employee including the CEO. PVG and ZSSS are miles apart of course, and getting around is pretty much by cab or subway or bus. I could never imagine driving there.
As some of you know they are offering a fairly hefty compensation package, and this is attracting a fair bit of interest so I wanted to point out what is going on there.
There seem to be three contractors/4 ways to apply. The contractors who are jockeying for position to supply expats...you can also apply to Spring as a direct entrant. All pay packages are the same $11000 a month salary, 2000 living, 1500-3000 fuel bonus, 10k travel remibursement, 1000/mo safety, 500/mo loyalty - short term, $1500/mo long term loyalty. Spring makes a point to say they always pay their bills on time so...? A lot of politics going on between the contractors - Aeropersonnel has hooked up with a local Chinese company called FASCO. There is another Chinese company there as well - these two are ALWAYS politicking behind the scenes with the HR and mgmt types at Spring. Parc does not have a local hookup probably to their detriment....and advantage.
1. Aeropersonnel (small operation based in Quebec)
2. Parc
3. Chinese/Hong Kong firm (unknown name - sorry)
Here is what I know.
- You actually become an employee of Spring. The contractors are paid a finders fee only.
- The safety bonus is based on 3 QAR events - supposedly checked by pilots although none of the contractors are pilots. Slow reduction of "major" QAR events which reduces the safety bonus to zero.
- Training pay is higher than the other carriers.
- based at ZSSS, however they are considering another base (be careful here)
- most Spring pilots do not speak english so they need expats for international
- interviews stress working really really hard (is it ok if we work you past your legal CAAC limits?) and low cost environment (i.e. crappy hotels - although it seems like the expats would be home each night)
- sim profile is tough - try to get a lot of emergency training before showing up - bring your own checklist and QRH as the sim stuff is always 2-3 emergencies and the local stuff is ALL in chinese.
- medical and written are as advertised here previously standard CAAC stuff.
- when you come back - no training - you do your CAAC ride immediately with a CAAC examiner (high failure rate), THEN ground school THEN OE.
Spring is pretty new to the expat thing although they are attracting a lot of interest with the pay package. Pretty low rent airline, shoddy offices, still in terminal one at Hongchow (terminal 2 is new and ultra modern and attached to subway and rail station) although there is a bus across the airport (about a 20-25 minute cab ride as terminal 1 and 2 are on opposite sides of the airport).
Plus now they are talking about flying out of Pudong so I am not sure how that is going to work.
Bottom line - Pay is great. Spring is pretty small but profitable but also cheap. You will be higher paid than any other employee including the CEO. PVG and ZSSS are miles apart of course, and getting around is pretty much by cab or subway or bus. I could never imagine driving there.
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Thanks........I've been trying to get anything on these guys.I knew someone had to have some info.
I have a screening the end of the month,sounds like a low rent outfit to work for.I will have to give this some thought.
I have a screening the end of the month,sounds like a low rent outfit to work for.I will have to give this some thought.
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I should note too that you can cab around pretty darn cheap here although the quality of the ride varies alot. Mostly you report to Terminal 1 to fly but they do have some trips out of PVG but they bus you there. As of today, Spring does not yet have expats flying the line but they have hired several and they are in the pipeline. They also have their own examiner as well.
I highly recommend that you get some sim time if you can before the interview and be mindful of politics everywhere. The chinese are strange people - old civilization that is discovering itself lately and one minute you are driving thru slums, then next ultra modern stores and high rises. The oddest moment I saw was on the subway, when a young chinese couple with two young children entered....they all stopped staring at me and started staring at these folks probably wondering how they got around the one child policy.
If you choose to live near a subway line, the problem arises in that you have to subway to terminal 2, then take the bus over to terminal 1 and then walk to Spring headquarters (5 minutes or less) - all doable but a pain imho. But many other Shanghai airlines are doing similar arrangements as well. Trips starting out of PVG one week, then ZSSS next week. Of course cabs are cheap almost anywhere.
I highly recommend that you get some sim time if you can before the interview and be mindful of politics everywhere. The chinese are strange people - old civilization that is discovering itself lately and one minute you are driving thru slums, then next ultra modern stores and high rises. The oddest moment I saw was on the subway, when a young chinese couple with two young children entered....they all stopped staring at me and started staring at these folks probably wondering how they got around the one child policy.
If you choose to live near a subway line, the problem arises in that you have to subway to terminal 2, then take the bus over to terminal 1 and then walk to Spring headquarters (5 minutes or less) - all doable but a pain imho. But many other Shanghai airlines are doing similar arrangements as well. Trips starting out of PVG one week, then ZSSS next week. Of course cabs are cheap almost anywhere.
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One more thing - the other threads all cover this but study hard for the written test. Pass is a 70...some high failure rates but you can do it again.
The medical seems pretty standard - just remember these answers:
1. Yes here is all my docs/surgery notes for any scars you have at all.
2. Yes I have two pairs of glasses and the prescription is xxx
3. No I am not taking any medications for anything.
Oh and always say Yes and Nod your head alot.
The medical seems pretty standard - just remember these answers:
1. Yes here is all my docs/surgery notes for any scars you have at all.
2. Yes I have two pairs of glasses and the prescription is xxx
3. No I am not taking any medications for anything.
Oh and always say Yes and Nod your head alot.
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One more thing - the other threads all cover this but study hard for the written test. Pass is a 70...some high failure rates but you can do it again.
The medical seems pretty standard - just remember these answers:
1. Yes here is all my docs/surgery notes for any scars you have at all.
2. Yes I have two pairs of glasses and the prescription is xxx
3. No I am not taking any medications for anything.
Oh and always say Yes and Nod your head alot.
The medical seems pretty standard - just remember these answers:
1. Yes here is all my docs/surgery notes for any scars you have at all.
2. Yes I have two pairs of glasses and the prescription is xxx
3. No I am not taking any medications for anything.
Oh and always say Yes and Nod your head alot.
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Air China doesn't bring you here to work until all your paperwork is complete, which means med cert, CAAC lic, and Airport ID. The airport ID is a security check. You are not working here until that is done, and you might not pass. So here is the rub - you pass the interview. You quit your present job to come work at Spring.Do the CAAC check ride. Fail, and you are out of a job, and you already quit your last one. 2 weeks later you get your license. Then they tell you it is 3 weeks for your airport ID. More than 3 weeks go by. Then they send you home, "waiting" for your airport ID.
If the Chinese cannot authenticate your background to their satisfaction (checking all the right boxes), it seems they would rather just send you home. It already happened to 1 expat here at Deer/Capitol a couple of months ago. I asked our "handler" about him and he said he probably was not ever coming back.
At least Capitol you come here AFTER you pass CAAC check ride, so there is only one other milestone to pass. Sounds like Spring has 2 speedbumps ahead, and remember, you have ALREADY given up your present job to come here.
The little info that I can get says that the easier your background check, the easier it is to get your airport ID. If you were living and working in your home country, and your home country complies with what the Chinese want (?????????) you should have no trouble. If you have been bouncing around the contract world, or from a country that makes it difficult to get background info, who knows. This is not hard and fast info, but our "handler" told me this, in broken english. He is new at his job however, and might not know what he is talking about.
Good luck to everyone that tries.
If the Chinese cannot authenticate your background to their satisfaction (checking all the right boxes), it seems they would rather just send you home. It already happened to 1 expat here at Deer/Capitol a couple of months ago. I asked our "handler" about him and he said he probably was not ever coming back.
At least Capitol you come here AFTER you pass CAAC check ride, so there is only one other milestone to pass. Sounds like Spring has 2 speedbumps ahead, and remember, you have ALREADY given up your present job to come here.
The little info that I can get says that the easier your background check, the easier it is to get your airport ID. If you were living and working in your home country, and your home country complies with what the Chinese want (?????????) you should have no trouble. If you have been bouncing around the contract world, or from a country that makes it difficult to get background info, who knows. This is not hard and fast info, but our "handler" told me this, in broken english. He is new at his job however, and might not know what he is talking about.
Good luck to everyone that tries.
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Well imho no one should give up their present job to come here until the checks are in the bank and you have passed all checkrides, OE, etc. Use personal leave, vacation, sick leave, whatever, but don't give up your job until you are online flying. Even then I would try and keep a route home open any way you can.
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Quick Access Recorder
Having operated as PIC for a chinese owned airline, I can tell you this could be taxiing at 11kts around a corner instead of 10, approaching parking bay at 8 knots instead of 7, they will use all means to get out of paying you something like the aforementioned allowance.
I get a bit of a chuckle reading these Chinese airline threads, how they expect the expats to be perfect, even at the application stage, when the locals are a galaxy away from it. Be prepared to work for some of the most corrupt, hypocritical people in the world, oh, and bring your gas mask, the pollution has to be seen to be believed.
Having operated as PIC for a chinese owned airline, I can tell you this could be taxiing at 11kts around a corner instead of 10, approaching parking bay at 8 knots instead of 7, they will use all means to get out of paying you something like the aforementioned allowance.
I get a bit of a chuckle reading these Chinese airline threads, how they expect the expats to be perfect, even at the application stage, when the locals are a galaxy away from it. Be prepared to work for some of the most corrupt, hypocritical people in the world, oh, and bring your gas mask, the pollution has to be seen to be believed.
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Thanks "HongKongfooey" for the info. Wondering how long is it going to be to come online in this company with a current ICAO ATPL(Indian). Any language course or tests applicable
. In short what does it take to fly in this airline.
. In short what does it take to fly in this airline.
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Tax In China
What about these Chinese contracts with the agencies who is paying the taxes there. I heard you have to self assess before the 31st March each year if you earn more than RMB 120,000 per annum, which is peanuts otherwise you can be fined and I expect worse .........
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Beware
If you are considering any Chinese airline, be careful. There is a guy at Spring Airlines that was fined his entire one year safety bonus! $12,000!. It was for an altitude bust. Apparently, this amount has never been assessed upon any pilot, foreign or local in this amount. It seems the company wanted to come down hard on him to allow the CAAC to see they are “tough on their pilots”. It’s a primitive, nascent method of thinking. Additionally, think about the large loyalty bonus at the end of year three. At any time in those three years if you bust a check ride, and they decide they don’t want you anymore, or if you should become injured and can’t fly the last month of your contract, you lose your entire loyalty bonus. About $75K. Personally, I think it’s best to go with an airline which pays the 17k a month. I would want to get the money in my pocket each year, and not have to trust them to give a chunk of it to me at the end of year on and year two and year three….
