I am a local FO at Turkish and unfortunately most of the stuff that's been written here is correct.
Currently, there is neither justice nor serenity at TK. Locals and expats have different contracts and inequality exists even between expats. Lack of professionalism and leave it if you don't like it mentality is causing a huge damage to this company.
As a result, so many expats, Turkish Fo's and captains resigning. As SurvivedJZR mentioned above if you have flown at Turkish or if you are Turkish you cant work in china. Moreover, the latest blow to pilots is coming from TK and Turkish dgca itself. In order to stop Turkish pilots escape to middle east they are not validating or delaying license validation.
In terms of conditions,
If you are local fo or captain= You don't get anything. You cant get block days off like expats for example.
Expat captains and fos who are on 330 and 777 are entitled to block days off.
IF on 320 or 737 you work like local fo or capt.
Housing or hotel allowance is given to expat 330 and 777 captains only. If you are on 320 or 737 as a cap or fo, you don't get the housing either.
In terms of pay, 320 and 737 captains start around 23500 tl an every 3 months you get around 10000tl bonus which bring your salary to around 27000tl. if on 330 or 777 you get 3000 lira wide body difference. so you are around 30000. this is your base salary for 70hrs. Anything above that is extra money. you get paid for flying on sunday also.
Patrick mentioned about $11k. This money includes base pay plus extra flying hours plus allowance at layovers plus fuel for commuting plus if you flew on sunday that money as well. I highly doubt he made that every month or maybe he did considering dollar rate at his time. But now its very rare u will hit those numbers. So now lets say you make 36000 lira it is equal to 35k dirham or 8k in euro. First officer salary in middle east.
Fos on the other hand make net around 16000tl for 70hrs. plus bonus every 3 month. so around 19 to 20k in tl monthly. If you become p3 on widebody there is 2k difference also.
Salary increase is at minimal this year %1.5 + %1.5 every 6 months. Inflation is highest this year since 2008 by %12. A Dollar last year in November was 3,08tl now 3,9 and soon will be more than 4.00tl
Layover allowance in most locations is 52$ per 24 hours of stay.
In terms of upgrades,
Min time 4500hr stick time= If you are expat with high school diploma its if i am not wrong 6500hr. Its my 8th year with more than 5000hrs and i am still waiting. Turkish dgca has just removed the minimum upgrade time. But company limits still exist. In the coming days we will see how it will effect the upgrades.
In terms of roster,
320 and 737 = no life. Expect around minimum 30 to 40 sectors with few stanby. 8 days off. I have seen 52 sectors on my friends roster this summer. Day in day out one day morning next day midnight flights. You figure out the rest i wont say more.
330 and 777 expat capt and fo: expect block of days for 330 between 8 to 10 and 777 9 to 12 days. Still the most relaxed roster at 777.
So, make your own choice
