To quote the great Chinese airline pilot confucious - "Never argue with a fool, people might not be able to tell the difference."
To put this thread back on topic, why only a few pilots join Vietnam now?
My opinion? And it is just that.
They are hiring a lot, but they also have a fairly high turnover. The FO pay is excellent in my opinion, and they do upgrade, but with some fairly painful financial conditions.
The upgrade process seems to have a fairly high failure rate as well. How high? 25-35% I think while I was there. That is both to upgrade to Captain, and upgrade to a larger aircraft. The Vietnamese are hard@#$%sses during training, and I mean initial line training for newbies, PC's, and upgrading. They are also hard on their local pilots.
Captain pay is a bit low, and with the 10% cut for one year is one of the lowest paying Captain gigs in Asia. I wouldn't have considered VAC 2 years ago had their pay been 10% less.
The upside to VAC? I was treated very well, far better than my past airline (13 years in USA). I really didn't really complain much about the job. I enjoyed it most days. After a little while, if you are an average Joe, show up, do your job, VAC seems to take care of you. I have met a few pilots that left, and came back because they like it better at VAC. Who knows, maybe I will go back.
The downside to the airline? The training can be tough on westerners brought up in "kindler and gentler" training ROE. Yeah, you are going to get multiple unrelated failures in your simulators (maybe in the airplane too - LOL) and the instructor might raise his voice. It seems that out of 10 new pilots, 1 or 2 always have trouble in training, or just hate it, and leave quickly. Living in Vietnam can also be very challenging for some (including me). Some hate it and leave. Some love it and stay for 12 years.
Their is a lot of turnover, especially within the first year.
Why did I leave (a month ago)? Rishworth. How do I feel about them? It is quicker to just tell you to go up a couple of posts and read what Toptup wrote about me!!!!! That is how I feel about Rishworth.