Housing is relatively cheap, if you on the european side nearer to airport, Florya area is nice, villa around 3500 TL plus service charges, European Schools are available but expensive, transport is cheap, cars are expensive to by due to luxury tax, petrol very expensive,sometimes twice cost of Europe, food is cheap but eating out in trendy restaurants can be pricey, wine is expensive in restaurants. We go out for breakfast, its cheaper than making it, also many yemek places do fixed menus, if you are not a fan of cooking yemek sepeti will deliver usually at a discount on menu prices. Your wife needs her own resident permit, she cannot stay on yours, there are strict regulations on days allowed on tourist visa. Food on aircraft is always first class, too much really! Yes, there were rumours about demanding a DGCA licence by end go 2014 due to the DGCA restrictions, but nothing firm. If you get medical done in your own country there is a limit to the reimbursement, but if you have a DGCA ticket the Company can book you into their approved Hospitals. I have no idea where the pay figures quoted come from! but lets say as a Captain you should get about 25K THY average. Tax is low, health insurance and LOL is good and comprehensive. The Company does not provide transport at home base, but an allowance is paid. If you choose to live on the Asian side,allow 2 hrs travel to be safe. Yes the Lira is fluctuating but time deposits of 30 days pay 8 Percent, credit cards have loyalty points and overall living costs are, in my opinion, about 40% of Europe. As for working conditions, CRM, etc etc, that's a matter of personal opinion. Most guys are happy, but as with any job, some are not. If you are seriously interested, many agencies can give you the accurate info as sometimes things appear to be " lost in translation" on this site..
Regarding changing the licence, under EASA regs the state that issues your licence also must hold your records, you can transfer them to Ankara and that's simple, I have no experience of getting them back ( I doubt it will be straight forward here) ,although if you keep records there should be no problem in getting the licence revalidated when you return to EASA land again, Part FCL gives the requirements for revalidation of the licence. Your rating will not have " expired" according to the currency regulations, although you will need to do an LPC with an EASA approved ATO and " training as required" plus a new medical. Your EASA licence is valid until your normal retirement age ( depending on ELP) but the privileges cannot be exercised while operating under another licence issued by another state. Although some of the TREs can revalidate at LPC as they have EASA approval, it can get messy and like CX the Company is seeking to avoid these issues
which can lead to crew down time.
Hope this helps
Last edited by Kirks gusset; 5th Apr 2014 at 17:29.
Reason: Additional info