do expats pay the same amount for rent as HK locals or is it higher for them??
Of course they do; what makes you even think there'd be a difference and how would such a system work? Landlords charging differently depending on your passport?
Hong Kong is the ultimate free market; the price someone pays is the price it's worth.
However, the housing assistance offered to expats (as opposed to LEPs) does allow expats to pay more; much, much more in fact. Hence, expats live "comfortably" in Hong Kong (3-4 bedrooms and perhaps a view and some trees around, and after a while a deck, patio and maybe even a garden) while the rest make do with shoebox apartments often containing three generations of family-members in run-down buildings where the constant pounding of jack-hammers and diesel-engined buses keep you one line short of going insane.
I suggest you all take your eyes away from PPRuNe for a few hours and browse the AsiaEXPAT or GEOExpat boards and see what challenges other "international expats" (westerners without housing assistance) meet on the housing market. THEY are who you should be speaking to when it comes to preparing for the LEP international programme.
Also there is the fact that when you are on the job you are barely at home
And you do realize that SO's are "on the job" 6 days/9nights a month, right? Which leaves you with 24 days, every month, to sit and stare through your walls at the "ugly mass of ancient tiny apartments."
The VERY LAST consideration you should be making is how many minutes from Cathay City your apartment is; you only go there two-three times a month! Why not try to find an area where you might make some friends? Where guys in a similar lifestyle situation will be? Somewhere which may provide you with a reason to leave the apartment in the first place?
And for those of you who would join this program because "you love flying," it's truly sad that you don't realize this job is the exact opposite. This is the deskjob you take when you've had your share of adventure, spent your time in the field, and finally ready to kick back, enjoy the retirement-money and take up other hobbies like sailing or golf while spending afternoons with your beer-drinking buddies reminiscing and telling war-stories about the good old days when you actually flew.