My advice: stay far far away from the Italian outfit and
only apply for the CLX LUX F/O position!
Contract? Either join the real thing (CLX LUX) or stay in your current job. About 50 off days less per year in MXP! Anyone wanting to join this outfit must be crazy, especially if you have CLX LUX as a alternative! Once you are in MXP, don't expect any possibility to transfer to the LUX contract as you'll have to undergo the normal CLX selections and join at the bottom of the seniority list. Save yourself a lot of time and join the CLX LUX seniority list right now by joining CLX LUX straight away! It will give you plenty of money and off days to live in MXP if that's what you want!
Job stability? CLX MXP has been operating with only one aircraft for a few years now while CargoItalia has been steadily catching up and taking back market share with 3 md11's. Apparently Lufthansa Cargo also wants to expand in MXP, so the easy ride for CLX MXP is over. Perhaps they will get additional aircrafts, perhaps not. Who knows! Who cares! At the same time, expansion rumors also go around for CLX LUX, so bet on safe and join CLX LUX, enjoy a decent salary and off days and the 74-8!
B744 type rating? Definitely don't do it for the type rating! A B744 type rating is pretty useless to use in your career because it's an aircraft that is typically being operated by majors. Major airlines will select and employ pilots regardless of their current type rating so a 744 rating will not be an advantage. On top of that, as the 74-8 is introduced, the 744 will end up where most 747-200 ended up: cowboy outfits in 3rd world countries. It's the 74-8 and/or maybe 777 you want to fly and have on your license and for that you need to join CLX LUX.
Bottom line: CLX MXP is a start-up with increasing competition. You'll be taking a big gamble, you'll be working on a lousy contract, you won't improve your job posibilities with a 744 type (ask ex-Oasis guys!) if the company stops operating and you will not get any shortcut to joining CLX LUX as CLX MXP is a different company.
Capice?
