The housing situation is a complete disaster and exemplifies the greed and lack of care of EY's crews and employees exhibited by their incompetant management.
Right now there is not enough housing for crew and pilot's. The company is in the process of renting apartment buildings in Musafah. Look it up on google earth. Musafah is the slum the city built to house all the low income workers just off the island. There is nothing there but metalworks and garages. This would not even be akin to living in Sharjah if you where an EK pilot.
After nearly 5 years in operation they still don't know what to do about housing. The main problem is no one is spending the money to solve the problem. 4 years ago when they ordered 50 aircraft they needed to start building accom for 5000 employees. What have they done, nothing. What are they planning...nothing. This summer we can expect another huge aircraft order plus the additional 20 A320. They need accom for 17000 people by 2012 and they cant even cope with the current 7000 staff.
The latest big developement... all the pilots who just moved into Raha gardens and were told the company have signed three year leases where lied to (again). The company will not renew the AED240 000 leases on these flats and they will have to move again in 10 months. No one in housing or HR warned them it was only a one year temporary fix so all the money they spent on moving,landscaping buying curtains etc. is lost. At best ,in one more year with another 450 pilot's coming this year, these pilot's can hope for is to be offered a flat in the Musafah area. No park's, no shops, thousands of workers... the families will love it.
This is ETD management in normal mode, this is what you can expect from them, lies and dissemination, no forward planning just the all consuming desire to make as much money as they can during there limited tenure and screw those of us who where trying to make a career here.
If only the Sheicks would wake up and see what a legacy these people that they have hired will leave their National Airline in.
"Abandon all hope all ye who enter here"