Originally Posted by
allaru
Re redundant guys I doubt there are 700 and even if there were the new DFO is ex EK so he will be fully aware of every ex EK applicants history.
If they hope to attract EK pilots they will need to offer 30k US minimum plus benefits plus commuting. They will get away with less if they want to target Ethiopian or Kenyan (nearby 787 operators) and they may get a few desperados from QR and CX. They will get very few 777/787 pilots from the west for any amount of money.
Most likely they will reluctantly offer a Riyadh base with a commutable roster ie 10-14 block days off each rotation. And yes they will want to establish an expat community and vibe and have money spent in Saudi in an attempt to emulate Dubai’s successful strategy.
Re 10000 applicants blah blah blah typical HR bluster and BS.
Re recent Willy Walsh interview (rise Sir Willy move over Sir Tim) China is running at 50perc of pre covid levels. If they kick off then that’s a huge number of pilots for China and the surrounding regions placing huge pressure on RIA. People always underestimate the size of the Chinese market and the size of their ambitions and they will eventually work through their economic issues.
General pilot shortages are still apparent all over and the airlines as usual are hoping for the next disaster (ie recession) before they admit defeat and return salaries and conditions to where they should be at (the US is already there).
Re the presentation, yes rushed and the presentation date on the email didn’t even match the day of the week. The presentation was half assed and cut short not mentioning pay and conditions as well as other things as per the email. My guess is a bun fight is going on between the lowballers and quality camps within RIA.
Re 700 pilots …rubbish …72 x 787s and 150 x 737s is closer to 4000 pilots.
Re experience requirements advertised on the website they are WAY WAY too low. An established airline could get away with 5000hour captains and 1500hour FOs but a newly establish carrier without a proper training infrastructure, SOPs, route experience, NO WAY. They need high time guys to start off and for that they will need to pay big money.
They may well try to do it on the cheap and if they do it will end up a dogs breakfast and they will never compete with the likes of EK and bumble along like EY did.
I don't think that this will be anything of what you think.
A critical part of vision 2030 is Saudiisation. We all know that their targets will not be met by then but there will be a revolution inside Saudi Arabia if they're not really trying to achieve it. The Saudi's have high numbers of Pilots going through 4 year aviation degree's and Pilot training in the US. The last I heard was 2019 when they had 6000, that will clearly have grown considerably by now. Saudi Arabia is a very young and well educated country. RIA is for Saudi's over the medium term.
I know that a large percentage of applications for RIA have come from domestic Pilots, any Saudi Pilot living on the East Side of the country wants this job.
I don't believe that there will be commuting or upgrades for expat F/O's. Now I may be wrong but I know this country well from the inside.