NC,
firstly you're about $7k short on the max 2 stripe pay. edit: so yes, about a $40K pay cut with housing allowance (not including the 23% super we get....)
$60K as SO in HK? Wasn't referring to that. $92K on the unified DEFO scales. Are you saying any of those other airlines have a higher starting salary?? I didn't think so, but stand to be corrected...