Smirnoff N21,
I greatly agree on some things you mentioned but nevertheless I have to get some things straightened out.
Firstly the money issue.If you are a senior first officer in Qatar flying A330
and you finally jump hoops and get
( on 320 of course ) you will take a
salary decrease of 10% in exchange for 4 bars,a ****ty lifestyle and a ****ty route network.
Secondly, the day you pass your first linecheck on 320 you will loose your seniority in the company.You are now considered as a new joiner.The company tries to cover that by letting you keep your
staff number but this number is
not related to your
seniority ( I know I will get a lot of **** for this line by the blindfolded "everything is fine first officers" in the company;we still got some of those).
Thirdly you will not get upgraded within the mentioned timeframe because Qatar is not interesting enough for somebody who has experience a FAA or JAR license or other choices. The number of captains applications outweigh the F/O applications ten times, so make your own picture.
Last but not least there is a problem with the experience gradient right to left, true.A first officer with 8-12000 hours that joined the company 4-5 years ago is certainly not very motivated after getting all these wrong promises and facing himself sitting next to a 4000 hrs ATR DEC on A330
babysitting him around the world.(Don't forget he is now more senior when you get your upgrade
). I am not saying that every newjoiner in the left hand seat is weak or unprofessional but the numbers rised critically within the last 2 years.
So how does the company adress this well known problem? As always we try to keep the first officers concerned in line by letting them do their upgrade interview although there are already 60 plus candidates waiting for their training( from last years march selection on).
We are looking across the runway and there lies the solution 190hrs experience college graduates that we could put in the right hand seat of a A330( what a career- congratulations and not their fault to take it).
First 200 hrs F/O's are already flying on line so every captain flies as a trainer, qualified or not.
Marsalama collegues
RGDS G.L.