Originally Posted by
metro301
Have you seen the number of Saudi Nationals that are newly released or currently in trg?
30+ KSA national RUH based FO's are on their way to 330 transition.
The writing was on the wall for the past year concerning the expat FO's....
Contract renewals will be made based on operational requirements. That suggests that the timing of your contract expiry may decide whether they require you or release you.
They are upgrading a large number of local F/O's and replacing those F/O's at a slower rate with cadets. That indicates that they still require the expat F/O's. Currently however, management believes utilisation to be poor relative to industry standard, that means that there is some slack in the system allowing for a number of expat F/O's to be released. With substantial growth however, that is unlikely to continue.
In my opinion they're a little like the Chinese, they don't want foreign Pilots but they need foreign Pilots. You have factions within management and government (exactly like China). There are those who understand the need for foreign Pilots and the those who want to remove foreign Pilots at any cost.