What I have found thus far
It is kind of nice to hear so many people in the same situation however, little scary because we are all in the dark. The information I have gathered comes from roughly two resources: manager of recruiting at WASINC, current WASINC employee flying CRJ in Xi’an.
The rapid upgrade program for ERJ-190 (also same for CRJ but going away soon I guess)....its a 3 year contract with an opt out of contract after the 2nd year with 90 days of notice. For non rapid upgrade capt, it is a 2 year contract with opt out after first 6 months with 90 day notice. By opt out I mean there is suppose to be zero financial penalty (doubt they’ll want to back of course) and I will look closely for this in contact. rapid upgrade FO means you are hired as a captain. however the pay is on a different scale. I dont have my notes in front of me but this is roughly what the recruiting manager at WASINC told me over phone.
While in training: 5800/month
IOE: 6100/month
1st year: 6400
2nd year: 6800
3rd year: 7100 (which is 1 st year for non rapid ugprade captain)
As far as I can tell comparing to other airline pay scales for similar airplane, it is a good deal considering first ~85,000 (or is it 85.500 for you CPA) is tax free with US. KP airlines is suppose to pay your Chinese taxes (again will watch for in a contract) I have a whole bunch of papers I received from WASINC and I would recommend going to their website inquiring to see what data they can send you. I have in front of me some info on position, benefits, and tax info on expat status.
I am sure most of you have seen the posts I have seen in various sites and I am seeing two sides the story and I am trying to sort out the two (most think WASINC is good, some think KP is decent, some seem to have had a terrible experience with KP, both worth the investigation). Also, from WASINC manager came 4 emails (only talked with three of em) of people who were willing to talk to potential candidates. All of them are still on the CRJ so its hard to tell if things will change with 190.
but one guy told me he was getting 12-18 days off despite 9 day MIN. Of course it could all change so good luck to all of us. From our emails it seems to be they are being honest and telling it how it is, not how WASINC has asked them to tell it.
I do not work for WASINC but have applied and been in contact with WASINC. they told me they are going to do phone interviews once they get a training date secured for the 190. Currently, wasinc has 3 pilots in Switzerland in training (transferred from CRJ) although they "think" training will be in Singapore sometime in Oct.
I have been told over and over again, read the contract carefully and I have printed the data i have been sent regarding pay, housing (in addition to above numbers, travel allowance which is in addition, and loyality pay).
Please feel free to correct or add info but this is what i have for now.
Good luck
I am another experienced pilot who is SIC “typed” in 170 and I know that they are interested due to lack of pilots and need for them. Whether I am offered a job or go, is another thing a? By the way, ERJ 170/190 is a nice airplane if that were the only factor (those simple times have long gone ;-)