Originally Posted by
pezetaroi
Horror stories will be a frequent talk in any Chinese company, I guess it all depends on how you manage to get through and yes, they’re lots of variables that certainly do not depend on you, as the medical, in flight events, CAAC measures, etc. I have many friends who’ve manage staying alive without any problem during more than eight years and also heard about some that don’t even make it through the initial training. China is not a place for standard pilots, you have to be slightly above and be prepared for zero error tolerance. I’ve also come to learn that part of the reason of the strict measures imposed by the operators is because of the pressure they receive from the authority who impose sanctions on every single unsafe event. Flying in China is, as someone stated in one of these forums, like “walking in thin ice”. As long as you stay out of trouble you’ll be fine, but hey, we are humans and it is human to err!
Anyway, talking specifically about this company, I can tell you that so far, I wouldn’t have any complaints. There are around 130 +/- expat pilots and many have been here for more than 6/8 consecutive years without any problems. But I also knew of a couple of the same seniority that just got demoted after a CAAC sim check, that’s just how things are in any company here. After all it comes to a combination of good working skills, health, professionalism and good luck...
You will also have to consider that Shanghai is the most expensive city and Juneyao is not precisely the highest paying carrier, so if you’re thinking about moving in with your family, give it a second thought.
Hope it helps!
not the highest? Well my fren who is a first officer gets USD296K per annum...you do the maths mate