I am personally against the Tiger and Jetstar schemes for the greater good. Sure you might get a LCC Pilot job but you paying 200K SGD for the course...how does that reflect on management - that wannabe pilots will pay an arm and leg just to get into the RHS?
As for foreigners in Aviation, if you think about it from a purely Labour and Economics perspective, they cause a lot of structural unemployment.
Even in India, if they got rid of all these white pilots, Indian first officers on the line can get promoted and all these unemployed CPL 250s can get into the system and get the cogwheels turned and ease the bottleneck.
Yet they seem to still hire expats for AI Express, Jet Airways etc...
Same goes for Malaysia too.
So yes, we do need to appreciate Multiculturalism, Racial harmony and all that jazz but remember, when you choose to extend that guy's contract, you are very very directly depriving another guy of your own country a chance and choking the natural flow of the labor process.
_______________________________________
Back on topic, I feel the following are musts for a long and happy aviation career.
1.) Get a degree. Every tom, dick and harry from the 3rd world nations has one and if you as a Singaporean don't have one, it is not looked upon well. That being said, if you DO have a degree, it is valued way above these other Indian/Malaysian/Pinoy degrees.
2.) Don't get an Aviation degree. I did one but apart from that I had a degree from NUS in Applied Mathematics. I started off in Financial Services and I still do Consulting and Private Stock and Securities trading in my free time. It can be VERY financially rewarding.
3.) Reason why I am due for Captain at age 35: Degree and ability to show my Chief Pilot I have a good understanding of business. This is key in the future. I have another max. 30 years of flying in my life available. If I make Captain now, just imagine how much potential that holds for all of you people.
(Also note I got rejected by SIA)
4.) NETWORK! Hang around the airport. Work in the aviation line. You don't have to be a Pilot at first. If you hold a degree, you can go into Consultancy etc...My Malay nephew is a Management Associate with Lufthansa - they hired him straight out of NTU Aerospace Engineering (Upper 2nd Hons). Now he's building up some hours to go onto Susi Air's Piaggio fleet and at the same time do some management level work for them.
5.) Don't sell out and bring our Aviation Industry to what it is in India.
Happy Landings
