White Knight,
It is always nice to hear positive comments from positive people. I think everyone brings a nice pair of rose colored glasses when they come to Dubai, I know i certainly did. But after a couple of years reality sets in. Many of us here are now just biding our time, waiting for our hours to build so that if and when better paying jobs, that allow us to go home, present themselves, we will be off like a shot. Consider the following and let me know if you will still be happy.
1. You are queue jumped by a direct entry captain.
2. You were lied to about the profit share and on arrival told that "sorry we have changed the rules and you now need to be here 12 months instead of 6 before you get any profit share. You reply "but when i signed my contract, the rules said only 6 months", they reply "yes we know, sorry but thats how it goes".
3. Your accomodation is across the other side of town from the only school that you are lucky enough to find a space in for your child. Then you have to spend around 2 hours per day in traffic dropping off and picking up kids. Not to mention the waitning time because the said school has up to three different pick up times for your children, and it is not feasible to get home and back in between. You ask to be shifted to a more suitable location and are offered the 95000dhs accom allowance and told go ahead. Unfortunately, a Villa will cost upwards of 120000dhs, plus water and electricity, in the areas where the schools are.
4. The same school coincidentally has fees that are far outside what the company covers. You say "This was the only school that had a space, can you help with the fees". They say "Yes we know, sorry but thats how it goes".
5. You enroll your child at said school in KG1, because that is when the company starts paying for education, and half way through the year they say "Sorry, we have just applied a different interpretation to the education policy and we no longer will cover your school fees this year". You say, "But you covered them last year, and you should have told us before we enrolled our children". They say "yes we know, sorry but that's the way it goes".
6. You are forced take your leave in at least 2 blocks, and try to get on an Emirates aircraft at 2 AM with your young family on an ID90 and can't because the aircraft are always full and there are 800 pilots and their families more senior to you, so you say "It doesn't seem reasonable that i am forced to take my holidays in 2 blocks, but only get one annual leave ticket". They say "yes we know, sorry but that's how it goes".
I could go on and on , but i am sure you get the gist. When i arrived i was told about all the things the guys before me had, like club memberships etc. I thought well that would have been nice, but things have changed and i am happy with the package that i have been offered. The problem is that the "package" is constantly being chipped away. You should be aware that we have no contract here. Our conditions can and are changed continually, (never for the better) with no consultation or right of appeal.
All of the above is fact, except for the bit about direct entry captains. I mentioned it because once again there are many rumours starting to surface. Some people have said to me that they are fact, but i have not heard that from any source that i would call authoritive. But my experience here tells me that where there is smoke there is fire. Additionally, it makes sense for the following reason.
Late last year our DFO cut the pay and conditions of our training captains significantly. As a result, they are having great difficulty recruiting more training captains. This is not a problem on the 777 as we are not expanding that fleet at present. On the 330 however, we are getting 11 aircraft which would need 22 training captains, and also 88 line captains and 176 F/O's. It is feasible that due to the lack of training captain applicants, we may not be able to train all these people. Given our DFO's penchant for finding scapegoats, i feel that he may float the idea of DEC's to cover his mistake of pi$$ing off the entire training department. It will be something along the lines of "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but due to the lack of suitable training captain applicants, i have been forced to accept direct entry captains". Then he will refer again to UAL and warn us that if we dont lift our game, and work harder for less, we could end up in the same situation".
My parting shot goes something like this.
I am quite happy that i made the decision to come here. Emirates has been good for me simply because i was one of they many lucky ones who got a quick command on a modern widebody. This will enable me to go searching for a more suitable job at the earliest opportunity, which will in turn allow me to take my family back home, which is where we all want to be.
If you do the numbers the future is not so rosy. We have just over 750 pilots now, with around 900 by years end. At present the corporate plan is to have 100 aircraft by 2010. We run 8 crews per aircraft, so that will be 800 Captains by 2010, give or take a few extra because of management pilots and extra crews on the 340. It follows then that if you join later this year, you may not get a command until 2010. F/O salaries have not gone up in real terms in over 10 years. I can assure you, you will not be happy facing the prospect of 6 or more years in DXB on an F/O's salary.
It is always possible that Emirates will announce another massive expansion which will accelerate commands again. It does not appear that this is likely though as the airport is at capacity now. They are adding 2 new terminals exclusively for emirates use, to cater for the fleet size of 100, which will again put the airport at max capacity. Already to achieve just this, the runways have to be moved to allow Simops. There are plans for a new airport at Jebel Ali. Until this is announced and has a date attached to it, i dont think you will here about any more massive expansions within emirates.
So to all you wannabee Emirates dudes, come over and have a look. You will find a great bunch of blokes to work with, good weather, reasonable pay, a nice lifestyle and a very impressive soft sell from the recruiting guys. Just don't be fooled into thinking that all is as it seems. Give yourself a few days and talk to as many of the guys as you can. You will find a great cross section of views. Certainly not everyone shares my views. Some love it here and never plan to leave. Some hate it and can't wait to leave. I'm somehwere in the middle. I dont hate it, I dont love it, i just recognise that it has been worth my while coming here, but i would like to leave at the earliest opportunity.
DMF