CX SO Rosters
In 2 yrs I only flew 3 trips on one occasion. That is to say I averaged 2.1 trips per month.
Reserve: In 2 years - 48 days.....average 2 days per month. (Reserve is rostered in blocks of 6 - therefore I averaged a week of reserve every 3 months) I was called out on reserve once and that was for a simulator session.
Simulator: 8 per year...ie: once every 6 weeks. (4-5 hours each)
Time off: Average - 13.7 days per month (12-17days)
CX deal in regional (2 crew), LH (3 crew) and ULH (4 crew).
There are a plethora of rules and regs that decide which is which... I'd have to copy Vol1 here to do it justice but.......in general it has to do with the number of time zones you are crossing. (but there are also flight time limitations too)
eg: HKG-AKL is 5 time zones and therefore only requires 3 crew whereas, HKG-FRA/ROM/PAR/JNB is 7 time zones and requires 4 crew. (The flight times are the same HKG- AKL or Europe)
HKG-Bali is a daytime flight 10hrs return but crosses no time zones, therefore its is a 2 man crew whereas HKG-Surabaya (right next to Bali) departs at 2am and therefore requires a 3 man crew.
Boeing SOs stay on the 744 until upgrade, Airbus SOs start only on ULH (A340) and then cross qualify (CCQ) onto the A330 after about a year. The dual qual opens up routes to Australia and Dubai.....all 3 man crew flying. The flying hours are less on the A330 so you are more likely (almost certainly) going to get a 3rd and even 4th trip each month.
Hope this helps