Asked a former colleague about the current adverts for direct entry Fokker FO's
Saw the PX ad you were talking about. This is what I reckon.
“A competitive salary package will be provided to attract the right candidate”.
The current contract for a F100 FO is: PGK 249,888.
On today’s exchange rate of .42 c this equals: $AUD 104,952.
PNG Tax is high, out of this expect to pay: $AUD 39,000.
Yearly take home will be around: $AUD 66,000.
AND THERE IS NO SUPERANNUATION.
Comparing apples and oranges I would have to compare it to what you would get in Aus, (Don't know US) say you earned about $AUD 87,000 in Oz, you would pay $AUD 23,000 in tax/medicare, so your take home pay would be the same BUT you would receive an extra 9%+ in super, about $AUD 8,000. Prob get the same as an FO on a Turbo prop on Aus. So Competitive is prob stretching the truth, especially for having to live in PNG and having to pay bills in a 1st world country. Prob ok if you were just starting out but. And heres the kicker, the Kina has gone from .47 to .42 in very short time; there is no real commitment from the company to keep the salary tied to any currency other than the Kina. So say the kina dropped to .30 the salary in AUD salary will drop to around $AUD 45,000. Check out the XE website, scary stuff if you are getting paid in Kina and paying the mortgage and kids school fees.
The positions are Moresby based. There has never been a commuting contract, but there used to be offshore basing but that has changed now; it is all POM based, but PX has made up this term “Domicile offshore”. Up to two tickets will be provided for you to travel to either BNE or CNS (if Australia is your Domicile). Ten days off a block are given, but really the best hoped for visiting Domicile would be either 2 breaks of 4 days, or one break of 7 days (the remaining days off need to be used to give 7th day off in country). You will be have to travel in you own time so your days at home will be not be much…4 days off = one day to travel home, two days at home and one day to travel back. Of course you could move your family to POM…(but personally I sure as hell wouldn’t contemplate that). And there is only 4 weeks annual leave, they took two weeks to make up the extra two days off a month.But whether this will apply to any new guys being hired I wouldn’t have a clue. When in POM the “offshore domiciles” will live in this new Accommodation Block being built at the airport, right where the Management will work. Imagine coming back from somewhere like the Derro and seeing the COE or Board Member in the lift, haha.
The Future
PX really is no longer a career airline for an expat as it doesn't require to offer it. it has a very big Cadet system…it even has a self-funded Cadet system. Promotion to the left seat for any joining right now would have to thought unlikely. Really, Expats are only to fill the seats until the cadet system reaches self sufficiency.
In the in-flight magazine “Paradise” the Chairman when talking about the airlines routes stated “that a significant number of services are unprofitable, whilst others are at best marginal. No less than half of these services fall into the unprofitable category”. With the Government having financial problems of their own, one has to worry when the PX Chairman starts using that unprofitable word,… wonder where the money will come from if a large portion of the routes is unprofitable.
Endorsement
One upside of the contract is that the endorsement is provided. There is a $AUD 30,000 bond for it but that reduces equally over 24 months. From hire to first Revenue flight will be about 4 to 6 months and add on the 500 hours to be employable will chop that bond in half. But nobody working at PX knows anybody that ever paid the bond, (PX might withhold any monies owing to you when you leave though) so it would be a cheap way of getting a jet endorsement if you weren't getting any bites from anywhere else and nobody would disrespect anyone for not paying out a bond and simply leaving. This is because there is no respect what so ever from Management to the Pilots and cause of this neither the other way. As soon as guys get checked they forward of their updated resume to every airline they can think of, good on em.
Closing
As an expat is a not a nice place to work atm (that is at the Management level, not grassroots or pilot level). Example a senior Expat Captain got “retrenched” recently way out seniority, the only explanation was that he was extra to needs, even though he was the only one. In the past Management has just not bothered to apply for an extension to guys work permit so off you go. No excuses are needed. Everyone wonders who will be next, who wont get a contract or who work permit lapses so you suddenly become an illegal.
Both Unions have taken to suing against ANG about the lack of negotiations for the last contract. This is in the courts as we speak. But the next conditions contract is due next year (less than 12 months away!!) and everyone believes/knows that will provide for even worse conditions.
Also politics bit messy at present. PNG Loop (online news mag) has fair bit on that Not sure how that is going to end.
All the best