Originally Posted by
ruralaviator
As the 20 year old, (19 finishing a CPL and MEIR), what's the best thing to do,try join the links asap and joining the 8 year queue or push your career elsewhere until ready to come back to the Jets as an external. Always wanted to do an OE of some sort in my 20's and go fly a jet somewhere else in the world and explore for a bit while I'm young, but the goal is to always come back to the Jets. Is the externals going to remain a viable pathway into Air NZ jet in the future or would I be better off to just start at the links and stay at Air NZ for my whole career.
Purely from a career progression and financial POV, you want to get an Air NZ Seniority number at the first opportunity if that’s where you ultimately wish to end up.
Doing an OE and flying Jets around the world make for great life experiences and work stories, but count for absolutely zero in the grand scheme of things at a seniority based legacy carrier and can be the difference between retiring as an FO or getting a Widebody Command before you’re 50.
Unfortunately, none of us have a crystal ball and can tell you what the Landcsape will be when you decide to come home. You could get picked up 2 weeks after applying or sitting in a “please keep updating your application” file for another 5 years, or longer.
The current RPPP process is destined to fail, but it’s also more written in stone than any process we’ve had in the past given it has no out clause for the company other than tag and release.
However….
The flip side to going overseas, is you might decide to not come back. There’s a thread at the moment talking about Aussie Airlines being a “noose around your neck” and believe me, Air NZ is no different. When you’re mid 40’s, with a family and 10-15 years of Seniority it’s extremely difficult to pack up and leave if you become unhappy. The gloss of living in NZ has well been eroded in the past decade (or more) and our salaries have failed to keep up with inflation. Something that doesn’t necessarily become obvious until you’ve got a Mortgage, Family and hit the salary cap for your rank, watching your bid for promotion barely budge as more Pilots continue past 65 for the same reasons.
Just like life, this career is full of decisions and consequences. Looking back, I don’t think Air NZ was the right decision for me based on my age of joining, the direction NZ as a country is going and recent world events that I could have never predicted. In another 5-10 years however, it could all change.