Many of my former colleagues had been 'forced' to the ME around 2009 to 2011 when airlines in Europe started failing at a significant rate. Large numbers went to Qatar and EK and stayed in gainful employment. I've yet to see any from this era return home... Addicted to the forbidden fruit of tax free cash perhaps.
Well 777, it depends entirely on your point of view.
Some people come over to Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Doha (okay, most people in Doha it seems) and having decided that they a) were forced against their will to come over or b) will only spend 3 or 5 years here, spend their entire time over here looking at the negatives and completely ignoring the positives, in order to ensure they don't regret leaving. Those who were ‘forced’ to come over probably applied because these 3 are the best of what’s out there for expats. I know plenty of people who were furloughed or lost their jobs and have now resigned from their 'home' carrier, preferring to stay out here than go back home to sit in the RHS of a 737 doing 4 sector days, eating crusty sandwiches that they probably made themselves and trudging back to the office car park to drive their 2004 Fiesta back home.
However in the last two years I can only think of a couple of guys who have left good jobs; one wanted to fly LH (missed out on Virgin and ba) and the other always wanted to fly for EK since birth, despite never having been out there! They always seemed very positive over the phone but when I recently visited, well one was talking about giving it another 12 months! Ok, so it's not for everyone.
Plenty of people come and go here, but of course the majority stay for varying lengths of time and I’ll reiterate that the majority of people who are unhappy had a plan for 3 or 5 years and spend every day after they arrive convincing themselves of why they want to leave. I didn’t do that in my home country, I just got on with it and said that when I got bored, I’d move. However too many people don’t do that here. It isn’t that far home if you’re European, the only problem being the load factors when you want to head back. Then again, If your old company had 90% seat availability for staff, you may have a slightly more pragmatic view on the matter. The US/Aus is of course a different story, most Europeans wouldn’t go to Aus for a job, long-term, it’s the same for (particularly) Americans here.
Did your mate tell you about any of the things he enjoys over here, or did he spend lots of time telling you that there’s nothing to do save shopping here? Because that’s t*ss…my list of potential Dubai pastimes:
1) Canoeing offshore
2) Sailing/Sea Fishing
3) Diving
4) Climbing
5) Cycling on the numerous tracks
6) Hockey
7) Rugby
8) Karting/Driving
Of course, back home most guys couldn’t afford to buy a boat or a track car, or would freeze to death if they wanted to canoe in the open water for 8 months of the year, or climb mountains.
There seems only one reason to go to the ME at the moment - cash! For a single FO with no dependants or debt, the tax free pay is effectively all beer money. Together with provided accommodation, disposable income can be three times higher than back home. However fast commands, for Boeing at least, are a thing of the past. I read somewhere all T7 upgrades cancelled for this year? I'm guessing many joining now may never see out a command there as 8-10 years (summers!) is perhaps short for some airlines but a lifetime in the sandpit. QOL? The list of negatives is endless on this forum so I won't repeat them here.
Yes, command times are extending but how long are long haul commands in your carrier? How long will you spend eating the aforementioned sandwiches and driving your banger to and from work 20 times a month before you get to sit in the left hand seat of the aforementioned 737 for another 10 or 15 years, waiting to fly long haul in the hallowed seat for the last 5 years of your career? Will you even get a command long haul or will your course just miss out, as in my old carrier, because you were on the wrong course as a new joiner. I believe that in the US, the problem of long command times was partially solved by offering guys a reserve captaincy - permanent standby for up to 5 years. Sounds like a riot.
QOL? I can tell you that my previous crowd, most likely one of the most unionised in Europe, the skippers were certainly complaining about QOL when they were doing 4 sector days flying 6/2/5/1 all summer and 5/2/6/3 over winter. The guys here have a tough time, especially those of us who spend a significant amount of time flying into Incredible India (incredible being the operative word) at 4 in the morning, but I can honestly say that it probably isn’t much worse than what they left behind - when you mention it, most agree they prefer to be here.
As far as summer goes, as I said above, if you spend the whole cool period complaining that the summer is coming, you’ll a) p*ss everyone off and b) hate it even more when it comes. Yeah, it’s bloody hot and massively humid. 8-10 years is the same amount of time anywhere, how long it feels depends on how much of that time you spend complaining over here in the 'sandpit' (btw, what is it they're calling Warwickshire now, Atlantis, is it?). It’s also pretty manky in HK and Singapore, people seem to complain less about it there. It’s also like that for a damn sight less of the year than it is raining and blowing a hooley back home. Believe me, I lost count of how many weekly baths my dog got back home and how much time she spent locked in the kitchen drying off (yes, people over egg how hard it is to have dogs over here, ours go into the desert 4 days a week for 8 months of the year and as long as they have water, they see it just as a big beach. Much better than a muddy farmer’s field for us, makes b*gger all difference to them.). However can I please take that above the snow banks and flooded rivers that home has been getting?
T&C at some carriers I know in Europe are improving greatly whilst things slide at the big three. A jet FO joining my airline today will be on £55k basic after a year on short haul (not a legacy airline) whilst the starting pay at one of the big three is circ £50k for wide body long haul working maximum hours around the clock. The net pay is 1.5k more a month in the sandpit, plus accommodation. Of course if you can get a quick command in Europe (possible at my airline) there is little difference in pay.
T&C’s in Europe improving? I haven’t seen much evidence of that. Things aren’t the same as they used to be out here, you’re right there, however Dubai isn’t, as you may be inclined to believe, the most unliveable place in the world nowadays and simply doesn’t have to pay the rates it used to to get people over here. That said, I go to work, have a chuckle for the (invariably) day and go home. With my wife working, we save 80% of her salary. When we were at home, we needed both salaries just to survive. We go out to 5* restaurants when we want, we can go on holiday more often to get away, and we can buy nice stuff. People are going to say that that doesn’t matter, but it’s easy to say you’d prefer to have a Yaris and a 2 up, 2 down terrace when you drive a Cayenne and live in a, well, 2 up, 2.5 down terrace (if you rent). But the 2.5 house still has nicer stuff in it.
I don’t quite get your point about the salary. '1.5k' doesn’t include accom. What does rent/mortgage cost you at home? £800 for a small place? So you’re probably taking home £2300 a month extra. That’s a LOT of money…how much extra do you want to earn without moving to China and dying from breathing difficulties?
I am unsure as to who you fly for, of course, but the lack of stability, the boom/bust nature of European aviation puts me off, there are plenty of guys who stayed here because their last 4 carriers went bust. I hope not, but I don’t have too much faith that Virgin will be around for generations. They also seem to lay guys off every time someone in the Bundesbank sneezes.
And yes, there is little difference in pay between an expat FO and a home-based skipper. Please tell me about the difference once you are an expat skipper? How about if you get a fast-track command over here (as have been given recently, and will surely come and go in the future, admittedly unpredictably)?
Accountants (apologies, I don’t often swear without an asterisk) tell me that the EK F/O package is worth 120k+ in a UK salary. The Skipper salary tops out at over 200k with schooling, housing etc taken into account. And even if you are a skipper for a few extra years back home, you'll still earn more over here, if that is your only argument.
My question is therefore - is it still worth leaving a permanent job back home in a reasonably stable airline for a job in the Middle East, and if so, for what? Has anyone done just that and lived to regret it, then not been able to get back home? (Expat for life, getting further and further from home with each job change!). Many say if you have a good passport and reasonable job just don't bother.
My answer, therefore, to your question, considering the tone of your post (which could to some sound like ‘why would anybody be so stupid as to move overseas’ – although of course I’m sure you are entirely neutral about the whole debacle), is no, for you, you would hate it out here.
Don’t come out here to improve you bank balance, the future of your family and children and their education, the life experience you will get leaving the house you own on your parent’s street, the opportunity to avoid endless 4 sector days de-icing and getting the sh*t kicked out of you on every approach.
Don’t come out here if you don’t want to live outside your home country because that, this place is not, and don’t come out if you are of the opinion that people out here come out solely because they’re desperate and are at the bottom of the chain everywhere else.
But:
- if you think being an expat may actually not be a bad life
- if you will go out and make the effort to find things to do in your spare time,
- if you enjoy being able to set up your future more certainly than at home,
- if you want to be as certain as anyone can be that you’ll avoid being laid off
- if you are willing to find a group of friends that match your approach and can appreciate that the expat community spirit is far closer (not THAT close necessarily, unless you want that of course, I believe the OMO club is always open to new members) than the ‘you leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone - while that crack addict is busy stabbing you’ spirit that sadly appears to have emerged at home,
- if you are willing to accept that you don’t get owt for nowt, that the company will never treat its staff as well as most airlines back home have to (I can think of at least one EU employer who is far worse), and that hoping this will change is going to a) be futile and b) ruin your enjoyment of anything,
Then maybe, just maybe, you should come and give it a go.
Perhaps you could now answer me this question while I change into my shorts and flip flops and walk my dogs around the huge lake in the middle of my 'walled compound':
Why the hell should I move home?