About the apartments I suggest you the Tongzilin area. Sichuan airline has 3 pickup points there and I think it's the biggest advantage that the company gives you, so use it. About the quality of life I agree with the others, air is a shi*, traffic in rush hours as well and for food I recommend some western restaurant in the same area; I personally hate chinese meals. Regarding the airline before choosing you should take in account that at the moment sichuan has the lowest salary in China, so I would check around all hainan group airlines or still in Chengdu the chengdu airline. Everywhere the average is about 2000usd more per month.
Good luck!