If the chance came for me to live in HK, to be locked into their company and fleet of wide bodied a/c I would probably take the chance. I would assume the time and $ spent/repaying back to get to that position might be more attractive then spending many years as a cadet/FO at jetstar then trying to swap to an international hauler.
Just do your research with these cadetships. The Cathay cadetship isn't too bad, but it isn't as good as what it was. But it's still better than a jetstar cadetship.
But have a read of these threads (especially the first link), it's a bit of an eye opener when it comes to being a second officer at Cathay and the lifestyle of living in Hong Kong.
http://www.pprune.org/south-asia-far...ck-cathay.html
http://www.pprune.org/south-asia-far...ransition.html
http://www.pprune.org/south-asia-far...need-know.html
Dont get me wrong, I have a several friends flying a330's (aus based) for Cathay and another flying the 748f (hong kong based), they all enjoy there job because they joined back in the days where Cathay had aus bases and paid housing allowances (if based in Hong Kong). These days that no longer happens.
On that note, is it that hard to swap from a domestic carrier into an international company? I would assume you would just start at the bottom (or thereabouts) of the pecking order every time one would move into another company..
That's correct, you will be back at the bottom of the seniority list, but you have to realise, it will be hard trying to jump from different airlines without a complete atpl or only having second officer hours gained at Cathay. If you join an airline as a cadet, you will be stuck at that airline until you have an atpl which could take a long time (because no on will want to employ you). But it's not too hard if you have an atpl which can be achieved through ga and regional flying. As in, it would be pretty hard for a jetstar cadet first officer or a Cathay cadet second officer without a complete atpl to get a job at emirates, where as if you were a first officer at jetstar who had gone through ga and hold a complete atpl you could potentially get a job at emirates.