Hi Paco,
I looked at Aerogulf a couple of years ago with the idea of coming out with the family and in the end was told by the ops manager that he felt he could not offer me a job because he felt I would not be able to afford it!!!!!! The cost of schooling is huge and was in no way covered by the measley allowance set at 15,000dhms per child. Looking at my 2 children at the secondary education stage, it would be costing between 80-100,000 dhms, leaving me some 50-70,000dhms short!!!
I left a copy of the relevant N.Sea pay rates which were well above the rates paid in Dubai. For a present comparison, on our current pay deal a high/mid range Captain will be on £85,000+pension+benefits by mid 2009 if RPI remains at c.2.5%.
At the end of the day people go to places like the Middle East to make money, not to be worse off than in their present job. The problem being for us in the UK, is that guys (and girls) from places like Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand it seems, still have a decent standard of living back home with the present pay rates.