Airborneksa
Dear fellow aviator,
1. If you plan to send your kids to American/British schools of Muscat, then for sure it is gonna cost you dear. You will be spending lot of money from your pocket. And just so that you know you can't send the education allowance outta Muscat, your kids gotta be studying in Muscat to get the education allowance.
2. You can forget about getting an upgrade to a widebody especially if u are an expat. You will be low on seniority and the company policies are such that they favour mostly the locals to get to go on the wide body. Generally you stay on the same fleet that you came on for nearly 5-7 years depending on how many widebodys are coming.
3. Command upgrade in the narrow body for an expat is also a problem, same as above, the policies favour locals. You will have a 4000 hour FO(expat)who will be waiting for a 1000 hour FO(local)to get his command and then he may be upgraded if he has luck on his side. Lot of expat FOs come and within the first 1 year they leave.
4. Rosters are tough, 60-70 percent of your flying is in the night and you would be doing about 80 hours a months. Most of the flying is into India and the rest of the Middle East on the 737. You will have once a month upto 3 consecutive night flights where your fatigue levels are the highest. You get upto 8-9 days off a month and you can request 3 off block days of your choice, but you have to request this nearly a month in advance(they have a cutoff date every month for such requests).
5. Yes the furniture allowance has been removed as on 2014. You gotta buy your own furniture.
6. The bond is 1 year even though you are type rated, that is the general norm here. I have heard rumours that the bond period has increased to 2 years, I am not sure...
7. I reckon it is valid in OMAN and internationally, I am sorry I am no lawyer so I take it as that.
My 2 pence.....if you are coming in as a DEC you are set(that is if you don't have widebody aspirations and happy being a line captain). I shall summarise a few points:-
1. Work environment is good, low stress and fleet managers are very approachable.
2. Money is pretty decent compared the big 3 in the ME.(a lil less money for lesser stress, totally worth it, compared to the big 3).
3. Flight safety is pretty relaxed, if any issues you own up and file a report from your side and that's it. They generally don't harass you.
4. Quality of life is pretty good in Oman. Oman is the Jewel of the ME. It has a lot to offer to you and your family. There are mountains, beaches, desert, wadis and so much to do here. People are very friendly and helpful. OMAN is a very peaceful and a safe country if you are planning to move here.
Hope this helps you.