1. Upgrades are running 2 and a half years right now but the time to F/O is expected to climb over the next year.
2. Once you have moved up from JFO to FO you can take up a base. You are allowed to bid for a base as an S/O once you have been deemed "suitable" for upgrade. It is your responsibility to ensure you have the visas needed to work out of your base.
3. You can transfer to frt fleet as an S/O as long as you meet the DEFO requirement before you are hired.
4. search function should bring that info up. Around 33k/month starting.
5. depends on fleet. As an S/O on the 744 3 long hauls/month with a sim rostered every other month.
6. From June till September it is not bad at all. Plenty of clear days. The rest of the year it ranges from fair to absolute crap. The Hong Kong observatory has a link for daily air quality as well discover Hong Kong have web cams to see what the vis is like.
Very basic info but hope it helps.