Stay away from Air China
Hi guys,
First and most importantly:
Stay away from Air China
From a long timer in Air China A330 fleet and desperate to leave ....
There used to be good reasons to join Air China :
Stable rosters
Home bases at home, YVR , SYD , MEL, LHR, FRA, FCO, DUS, MXP, now GVA, MAD
Many days OFF
Good salary
International Flights only
It changed a lot in the past year
B777 has taken over FRA , CDG and LHR, sometimes SYD on a temporary basis
Rosters change more than they used to
Days OFF reduce to minimum
Pilots removed from home base with a day notice
A lot of unnecessary days in Beijing
Many domestic flights in the wrong time zone
Harassment from the management
Block times cheated on the payroll
Medical issues every 6 months, 2 to 3 pilots loose their medical on silly reasons
Pilots injured during medical checks such as angiograms
Air China and the brokers refuse to deliver No accident/ No incident letters prior to resignation, which makes leaving very difficult
Payroll issues.
From the NTR side, the only guys who joined recently from A320 , have been based in Beijing with minimum days OFF, with a promise of a European base that will never happen on A330 for 2 reasons, the first one being that Air China A330 will operate more and more domestic flights, and the second is that all bases are more than full despite the brokers and Air China constant lies.
Money is still good, but flying with Air China has been the most challenging job I have ever had to do, taking into account the overall local pilots professional standard, the huge delays we face on domestic flights, and it has never been so boring and lonely despite all efforts .
From the type rated guys, no overseas base has any available spot, therefore they are being based in Beijing until further notice
Now, the brokers will lure applicants with promises, they will be unable to take Air China accountable for. They are just there to take your money and leave you hopeless, whoever they are, topflight, Parc, Brookfield, they are all in bed with Air China
Regarding, the medical, well, it' s a Russian roulette every 6 months, you can loose your job without any income protection for obscur reasons, just because they can. It's very insecure
We loose pilots every 3 months, sometimes temporarily as they keep fighting the system, but an average of 2 pilots would loose their Chinese license permanently.
On the license side, be very careful because Once you do the interview with Air China, Air China will own your Chinese ATPL, and if you want to change to CSN , or Hainan, or ces, or Sichuan, they or you will have to pay a fee for transfer around 10000 USD up to 25000 USD.
Anybody can say, I' m wrong, I only see the dark sides of this contract, But there are good perks.
Salary
Expat pilots community in Beijing
Shopping
No fuel stress, as we never land with less than 3 hours fuel in tanks
No pressure to be on time
You have been warned