Questions about the UK job market

[medflyer]

I am a Brit by birth but have spent the majority of my life in Canada. All of my flying is in North America.
I am currently researching the costly conversion process of my ICAO (Canadian) ATPL to the UK ATPL, and would like to try and compare the state of the industry in the UK vs. here. I have about 3000 hours (nothing heavy, about 1500 on King Airs, mainly as Captain) and wonder if this experience would have more impact in the UK (because it sure doesn't mean much over here right now!)

It seems like a lot of companies in Europe want people to pay for their type ratings up front now--is this pretty widespread?

Are the salaries getting to be pretty poor there as well? Here we have guys making $65K Cdn. flying as Captain on MD83's, after having to pay $30K out of their own pocket for the training.

Working conditions at some of the bigger players like Easyjet, Ryanair, BMI, etc?

Any other pointers, war stories, etc?

[scroggs]

Paying for type ratings is more common than it was, but it is far from universal. I believe that the employment market in Europe is picking up, and that companies who currently require and charge for ratings will have to change their tune soon.

The Canadian market is small and is overly affected by the fortunes and demands of one employer. Europe's aviation market is vastly larger, serving a population 30% greater than North America, yet still has much scope for expansion. Salaries in UK domestic and charter airlines (I can't speak of the rest of Europe) have FOs earning around 40-50k GBP (about C$100k - C$120k) and captains around 60-85k GBP (C$150k - C$210k). Note that the cost of living in UK is a lot higher than in Canada!

You will have to ask those who work at the airlines you're interested in for their opinions of working conditions - do that in the Terms and Endearments forum.