Originally Posted by
The Rage
The GACA (CAA) is based on the FAA licence, meaning unless you have a FAA licence, you'll need to redo the whole ATPL including the Type Rating
The FAA, along with most GCC countries, does not recognise foreign type ratings. This poses a significant challenge in terms of recruitment if true. For instance, even if an EK Captain holds an FAA license, they would lack the B787 rating on their FAA license because 1) Emirates only provides the 777 rating, not the group rating and 2) the FAA would not recognize the 777/787 rating, necessitating a retraining for the 787 rating via an FAA-approved training programme and self funding the rating - upwards of US$40,000.
Furthermore, even if a pilot has an FAA license with the 787 rating, they would still need to undergo the respective GACA license conversion and rating. Consequently, if RIA stipulates this as a prerequisite, the pool of eligible candidates could be drastically reduced to Etihad or Qatar pilots who have paid to add the 787 to their FAA license, or pilots flying N registered 787’s such as those from Delta, American or United - who are unlikely to be contemplating a move to a Saudi start-up.
In other news, apparently 14/14 is the latest rumour. I will leave it open for future discussion henceforth.