Solid roster, solid long term prospects and bloody great fun on the line. Came here from airlines during the last recruitment and won’t be leaving. Salary’s not the best starting but once you factor in productivity pay and should you wish to do it, tour based pay, more than fine. Two year+ FOs are pulling easily €110k+ not including per diems or tour based pay. Eg. On my fleet 400hrs flying equates to a €36k block hour, productivity pay bonus. Salaries also track inflation - we had a 5.5% pay rise before stepping in an aircraft. As it should be. Two year pay rise tracks this too.
It’s not just about the money though, the roster is a big draw, deduct leave, sim, GRT and you are flying just 168 days p.a. Off is Off. Crew meals, health insurance etc etc But, most importantly they seem to genuinely treat you with respect and care about us and our well-being from day one. There’s always things to complain about but overall I’ve been impressed.
As for on the line, over the last 6/7 months it’s been a mix. Some tours (peak summer) have been 3/4 sectors a day, some I’ve been lucky and not doing too much at all with down time. Days off swimming in Nice and two days Reykjavik plus a few other quieter tours here and there. You’ll find the duty adds up quickly, 60hrs can be hit very easily and once you near this limit they will ask if you are happy to extend it to 70 hrs. If you agree then you’re remunerated for it and they can only use those extra 10hrs to airline you back home. If not, you’ll airline home, maybe a day early.
As for assigned fleet, don’t get your hopes up on a Latitude or Challenger. I met a guy who joined recently with both a Global and Challenger rating and they put him on an XLS. He was happy enough but I think praying it won’t stay around much longer - it’s the dinosaur of the fleet! The Latitude is for me a sweet spot, modern cockpit, nice cabin etc. I’m very happy flying it, coming from the 73 & 78…
As a package I can’t recommend it enough for work/life balance. Downsides are small aircraft, if that matters to you and the possibility of flying the XLS but the rumours are that won’t be around forever.
Positives - everything else really. Roster, longterm prospects, treated with respect and looked after on the line.
Good Luck!