EK time to command
One of the great lures for EK recruitment is the short-ish time to command in Emirates. What can a new joiner actually expect if he joins today? Let's do some basic maths:
Fleet today:
A310 3
A332 29
A343 8
A345 10
B772 3
B772ER 9
B772LR 3
B773 12
B773ER 30
Total 107
What will the fleet look like in the future?
EK ordered 58 A 380's. These aircraft will be delivered as from 2008 for the next few years. Let's say an average of below 1 aircraft per month. (for 2008 it will be less, only 4)
There's also another 48 B777's in the pipeline for the near future (2007-2010), again about 1 aircraft per month.
EK has 1874 pilot, that's 911 captains and 963 first officers. Since some of these FO's are in training to become Cpt, we can take a 50% split to make things easier.
That's about 9 crew per aircraft. Because the new aircraft coming in are more for long haul then the average fleet, let's take 10 crews per aircraft for the new deliveries.
So, until the A350's arrive in 2014 (which will initially replace the older Airbusses and Boeings), the fleet will grow by about 100 aircraft. (Some of the older B777's will be replaced by the new B773ER's arriving).
Basically, this means that (in case of no resignations) a newjoiner today will have to wait at least 5 years for his command.
So, what about those much talked about resignations in EK. How many pilots are ACTUALLY leaving?
The last 10,5 months (since beginning march 2007, EK publishes a seniority liston the crew portal) 44 people left the building. So again, lets simplify this numer to 50 per year. (not as many as a lot of guys claim here!!)
So what do we have now?
You're a new joiner, there are roughly speaking 950 FO's ahead of you. On average over the follwing years, EK has on average 20 new aircraft a year for the next few years, which requires 200 new commands. Also around 50 pilots leave every year (they won't all be ahead of you, a lot of new joiners leave rather soon for various reasons)
You will be moving up on the FO's list around 250 places per year. So expect your command after around 4 years.
PS: This doesn't take DEC's into account, but lately, the number of DEC's joining is quite low, and hopefully EK will completely stop hiring DEC's in the near future.
MR8