Spot on Compass Rose
I've spent the last 4.5 years flying widebodies for a gulf airline and certainly the golden days for western expats in the gulf are well and truly over.
The billion dollar orders have to be paid for somehow and round this neck of the woods that means increasingly cheap labour and a gradual but incessant erosian of terms and conditions
Hence the arrival of large numbers of Malaysian, Philapino, Indonesian, Indian, South American etc.., pilots into the gulf these past six months to join the thousands of their fellow countrymen and women who already basically run these airlines anyway. Thats why the labour costs are so low in comparison to developed nation carriers.
And who can blame these nationalities really, for most of them its still a dream salary, they do the job as well as anybody else and for them its still well worth putting up with all the s**t that is part and parcel of working for the gulf arabs.
The trend will continue and their just starting with the Cadet pilot work for almost nothing schemes...
I'm heading home soon, for this European the numbers do not compensate the hassle any more
Last edited by AERO DYNAMIK; 22nd Jan 2005 at 08:30.