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Captain Gile joins flydubai from Skybus Airlines, an American low cost carrier, where he was President and Chief Operating Officer for four years.

Published: August 05, 2008, 10:04
flydubai appoints new COO

XPRESS
flydubai, the new low-cost airline formed by the government of Dubai in March, announced today that Kenneth Gile, has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer.

Captain Gile joins flydubai from Skybus Airlines, an American low cost carrier, where he was President and Chief Operating Officer for four years. Before that Captain Gile worked in a variety of positions at Southwest Airlines over a period of 25 years, including Chief Pilot and Director of Flight Operations.

As Chief Operating Officer of flydubai, Captain Gile will be responsible for the day to day running of the airline and have specific responsibility for strategic planning, in-flight services, ground operations, flight operations, maintenance and engineering, as well as acting as the Director of Operations.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai, said: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Captain Ken Gile to the position of Chief Operating Officer of flydubai. Ken has a wealth of experience working with low cost carriers and we are proud to have been able to attract him to Dubai to work with flydubai. Ken’s experience will be invaluable in getting flydubai off the ground.

“This is our first appointment and a very important one for us. Now that we have made this key appointment, we can move forward with the work of getting our airline ready to begin commercial operations in mid 2009.”

Captain Gile, said: “I am honoured to have been given the chance to get involved with flydubai in such an early stage in its development. This is a very exciting opportunity and I am looking forward to contributing to the success of flydubai.

“I have worked in aviation my whole career, and much of that time has been spent working with low cost carriers, so I believe I have a lot to offer flydubai. The flydubai business model is strong and we are working hard to assemble an unbeatable product and a top class team of individuals. I am confident flydubai is going to be an extremely successful airline and I am proud to be a part of it.”

Captain Gile started his career in the United States Airforce. After six years in the military, he moved to Jeddah with Saudi Arabian Airlines. Captain Gile then returned to the US, where he joined Southwest Airlines as a Pilot and worked his way up the ranks to become Chief Pilot and Director of Flight Operations.

Captain Gile is married with three children and seven grandchildren.

flydubai was set up by the government of Dubai in March 2008. Last month flydubai placed the largest ever order for Boeing 737 aircraft by a gulf based low cost carrier, when it order 54 737-800s at the Farnborough Air Show.


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[MrMachfivepointfive]

Gee - that was slow. Ken has been resident at the FlyDubai project office (EGHQ 9th floor) for almost a month now. He's even been with GAG at Farnborough. Are you guys losing your edge, or what?:hmm:

[NGFellow]

How does one apply for flydubai? I know it says to apply via the EK site. But the EK site has no link for FlyDubai. Its a straight up EK application.

[handsome one]

anyone knows about the benefits n pay scale plus allowance with this airline for capt n FO

[fatbus]

piggy backing on EK recuiting until they get on their own, pay not as good as AA, could be why they picked the 73 and not the 320, with out provided housing give it a miss

[Kingfisher320]

I hope you do better job at FlyDubai then you did at SKYBUS. Good luck to you...

[NGFellow]

Does anyone have specifics on the T&C proposed for FlyDubai? Anyone.....? No Housing? :=

[Left Wing]

the soon to be laid off expats from Jet, Spice AIX...will jump over !...

[KRUGERFLAP]

very bad start if this guy mantain the same politics.
SKYBUS was the worst company USA ever had.

My GOD! no Housing in Dubai? No way Jose!

[ironbutt57]

SkyBus had an unsustainable business model for sure, but from former colleagues, the working environment was pleasant, (albeit the package was dismal to say the least), and there was a positive "can-do" team spirit in place...:ok:

[sandyballs]

This thing has BA/GO written all over it....its a shame they couldnt get B Cassani to run it....she might have made it work
Let the show begin!!..:}

[southflyer]

with all the slave labor in Dubai, they should not have any trouble making profits...

[NGFellow]

I doubt that FlyDubai will need anyone for atleast 10-12 months from now.
So laid off expats will have to go elsewhere for a while. DEC requirements for FlyDubai are currently the same as EK since they are piggbacking their application process with EK. If there are not going to be providing housing then it will not be particularly attractive considering the high cost in Dubai. But as always if you need a job one might have to take what is available at the time, and keep looking for a better opportunity.

[john negussie]

Does anyone have Kenneth Gile's email address?

[MrMachfivepointfive]

[email protected] and [email protected]

[flyingcrazy]

Check this out:

flydubai : Our People : Pilot recruitment information (http://www.flydubai.com/vacancies/Pilot_recruitment_information.asp#Airline_Operations)



:ok:
FC

[masalama]

57,000/- looks good on paper but factor in the 20,000/- ++++ pm house rent for a decent accomodation which is increasing year on year....rest of T's and C's looks fairly even to the other LCC's ....
all the best to NG drivers...
masalama.

[fatbus]

Education is low. As well parking at your oun expense? At least we know what $ amount EK puts on Audi transport. To bad Capt's have to be typed.

[alpha474]

Just trying to crunch some numbers for Fly Dubai...
P1s get 57000 AED .. thats 15K USD...tax free

can someone whos living in dubai give me something to start??
can you fill in the blanks for the following expenses????

Home Rental/EMI.....(nice 2-3 BR appt. house is a decent neighbourhood)
Food + Utilities......
Car payments.....
other expenses necessary for the middle east... (buy tunics??? ;))
its just me and my wife right now but would surely wanna know how much the kids expenses are..........

cheers guys...
thanx

[Kuntrol_Freek]

If you are smart enough to earn that kind of money u shud be smart enough to work out how to search the myriad pages on this forum already devoted to "living in the sandpit" ;)

[SOPS]

570000....are they providing anything else?

Whoops..seen the ad now:ok:

[fatbus]

real rough munbers for this year 250K/year min for a townhouse( 2-3) style villa 275K next year , car/truck 75/150K, school 40/60 ele/scdn, food 5-10k/month, water and elec dont know but i think there has been a big increase. The only thing thats cheap is car insurance 3-4k /y

[fractional]

alpha474, why start a new thread when there is another one about FlyDubai on roughly the same subject? Mr Moderator could you turn these threads into a "FlyDubai - All you need to know"? Thank you.

flydubai : Our People : Pilot recruitment information (http://www.flydubai.com/vacancies/Pilot_recruitment_information.asp#Airline_Operations)
Variable Pay:
Callout Pay - If you work on a non-rostered day, you shall receive an additional AED 350 per day.
Flying Pay - You shall receive an additional AED 150 for every block-flying hour you work.
* Whilst initially flying hours will be variable and less frequent as the airline establishes itself, once in full operation it is expected that pilots will be working approximately 80 block-flying hours per month.
Bond - You will be contractually tied to flydubai with a training bond of US$ 24,000 for a period of 36 months.
Location - All employees are permanently based in Dubai, one of the world's most dynamic cities.
Medical/Dental Insurance - Free private health insurance for yourself and subsidised cover for your spouse and up to three children.
Employee Insurance Benefits - The insurance benefits for our pilots include Loss of License cover up to AED 1,000,000 and Life and Accident cover up to AED 1,200,000.
Annual Leave - 42 calendar days per year.
Annual Leave Ticket - You shall receive a free confirmed economy class ticket for yourself, spouse and up to 3 children to your annual leave destination (which shall be confirmed during the selection process).
End of Service Benefit - The end of service benefit is as per the UAE's labour law, which entitles you to the following:
1-5 years service, you receive 21 days basic salary for each completed year of employment.
5+ years service you receive 30 days basic salary for each completed year of employment.
Children's Educational Support - Applicable for a maximum of three children aged between 4 - 18 years, in full-time education. For primary schooling, you shall receive a reimbursement up to the value of AED 30,000 per annum. Secondary schooling is reimbursable up to the value of AED 45,000 per annum.

[alpha474]

from what i hear, living in dubai is inflating so fast that i just wanted to get a fresh perspective of the prices... anyways, thanx guys you did point me in the right direction.... :ok:

[Wizofoz]

I would be very wary of coming here without company accommodation provided. Even if you budget on the figures being bandied around (and 20k rent, 5k utilities a month is probably fair) for THIS year, rents have skyrocketed year on year, and there is no guarantee allowances will keep pace. Imagine being here, bonded, having moved the family, then finding you can't afford to live because the rent has doubled

Most companies employing expats in the UAE either provide housing, or a MUCH bigger allowance than that.

[emratty]

Why is Fly Dubai captain on a higher housing allowance than an EK skipper?:confused:

[Wizofoz]

Why is Fly Dubai captain on a higher housing allowance than an EK skipper?

'Cause it's a seperate company with it's own terms and conditions?

Why is a Flydubai Captain on a lower salary?

[emratty]

Yes but as Flydubai is being set up by the people from EK it is just interesting that they are offering a higher housing allowance to what they offer the pilots in Emirates.

[ferris]

Something not mentioned so far is an accomm bond. To my mind, that would be a big issue. Bonds can be 6 months rent, in advance. Thats a fair chunk of change (without any company support). Anyone comment?

[BladePilot]

You're doing well if you secure housing with only 6 months advance. More often it's 12 months in advance and no way of getting your money back if everything goes pear shaped for you. Add to that the 'agent' you use will probably be looking at anything up to 10% commission for 'finding' you the right place!
Would be surprised though if there was no company support at the very least many give their employees an interest free 'advance' to pay upfront for accommodation, monthly amount then taken directly from your pay packet. Still offers you no protection if everything goes pear shaped as your company will then take every Dirham back that you owe them before they give you the permission to leave! (be careful here as the agreement is between you and the provider of the accommodation and not between your employer and the provider, your employer will chase you for repayment) either way the owner of the accommodation normally laughs all the way to the bank, again and again and again!

'rock and a hard place' comes to mind!

Only way out of it is to join a carrier that supplies 'tied' accommodation. I believe Etihad are developing a huge employee village just minutes ffrom their new HQ in AUH.

[Geebz]

You all need to do your research on SkyBus before considering FD. A320 Capt pay $60K per year.

[R8TED THRUST]

Good day all,

Just wondering if anyone could shed any light on why they want type rated pilots to sign a bond? Correct me if i'm out in left field, but normally bonds are for those who are non rated on type...

Cheers

[Qatari515]

welcome to the Middle East mate.

I guess the bond will be to cover the cost to convert your licence to one acceptable by the local authorities....thats the official version.

Unofficially ...... the best way to keep you bonded to the company/region


My idea....dont come to the M.E. if the company does not provide you with housing. The market is unstable, unorganised and lawless as far as expats are concerned. You do not want to venture too deep into such an adventure.

All airlines provide housing (even QR).....ask for it!

[JOB HUNTER]

Pilot Job Details
B737 First Officers Job - Flydubai
Ref: : airlinepilots (Flydubai)
Location: Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Pay: Pay details on application
Job Status: Permanent
Flydubai, the world’s newest and most exciting airline is looking for experienced pilots to fly our modern fleet of Next-Generation Boeing passenger jets.

Based in Dubai, Flydubai has announced an historic order for 54 737-800 NG aircraft from Boeing. This is the largest single order by a Gulf based low cost carrier for Boeing aircraft, and is valued at approximately US$4 billion. Flydubai will receive its first aircraft early next year and will commence commercial operations shortly after.

We immediately seek type rated Captains and are soliciting interest of First Officers to operate our brand new fleet flying to high demand destinations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Asian Sub-continent.

In addition to a competitive tax-free salary and the opportunity to live in one of the world's most dynamic cities, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes a housing & transport allowance, private health care, life insurance, educational support for your children and various other benefits associated with an airline.

First Officers are required to have a minimum of 2500 total hours, 500 hours of which must be PIC on aircraft types in excess of 10 tonnes. A B737 rating is strongly preferred.

Printer Friendly Version:D

[NGFellow]

As most of you have rightly stated that even though 57,000 AED seems like a lot of money on paper, it may not be sufficient enough to make someone move to Dubai. The key point is the housing allowance given in lieu of company provided accomodations. The allowance will not cover the cost of housing and also mentioned was the advance rent payment of 6-12 months. The educational allowance will of AED 30,000 will barely cover the cost of 1 kid. If you have more than 1 kid then it is all out of pocket.
They also only give you a transport allowance which implies you drive yourself to work as well. := Thus you will spend most of your base salary paying for the shortcomings of the allowance provided with little left over.
Oman Air might be a better choice based on reports in the field as regards to NG slots.:ok:

[mikehagen]

Is it a common practice for pilots in EK/Air Arabia/FlyDubai (either legal or at least possible) to cash the housing allowance while actually staying at a friend's company accomodation?

...or do you have to somehow demonstrate the airline that you are indeed expending the allowance in a rent?

Many thanks!

[Wizofoz]

The educational allowance will of AED 30,000 will barely cover the cost of 1 kid. If you have more than 1 kid then it is all out of pocket.


To be fair, that is Per Child and wold cover MOST of the fees in a British curriculum school, but I agree with the rest of your post.

[NGFellow]

If the educational allowance is AED 30,000 per child, upto 3 children then it is perfectly ok as most schools are charging somewhere in that range.
As far as housing goes, has anyone flying for EK etc tried living in Sharjah and commuted? I gather rents are cheaper there but the traffic is a :mad::ugh:

In fairness to the airlines, allowances are meant to subsidize your expenditures out of pocket but not necessarily eliminate them. In a perfect situation they would though and you would live and send your kids to school for free. No U.S. airline I know of helps you with housing or schools. So if you live in San Francisco where the rents are highly inflated as well, you are on your own. Your choice to live there.

On a different note, anyone at EK from the States try to ship their cars to the UAE? How difficult is it and what are the costs? It might be a cheaper option than having to buy one in country.

FlyDubai screening I expect will be the Emirates interview process?

[handsome one]

what type of housing can u get with 16k a month? what about a villa away how much does it cost(maybe place outskirt of dubai)

[Glorified Donkey]

Ive found nice 2 bedroom apartments in Dubai for $2000USD/mo. If you want a villa Im sure you can find something for what they are offering $4300USD/mo. If you want a castle, well im sorry friends you're in the wrong business.

[Glorified Donkey]

HAHA You're kidding right? you do realize that you just posted rental costs to properties in some of the most expensive areas of Dubai. Average cost of those homes is over a million dollars. You guys really do keep your head above the clouds. Time to reduce your expectations.

[NGFellow]

Anyone commute from Sharjah? Isn't it cheaper to live there? Also anyone shipped their autos to the UAE from the States? Is it worth it or is it just a big hassle? As the Donkey rightly pointed out, for the amount being offered you should find something better than Shrek's Swamp!!:D Now a castle might be a bit much.:(

[fatbus]

Not too many AA guys live in SHJ and keep in mind Fly Dubai will be out of JXB and the commute will be 1.5 to 2 hours each way. If you have not seen the traffic here you need to witness it before you concider SHJ -JXB.

I do not know anyone that lives in SHJ and yes rents are cheaper, but do you really eant to live there.

[handsome one]

paying 20k a month for a 2-3 bedroom apartment is nuts no wonder those arabs house owners are laughing at expats renting thier house n apartments

[TidaBisa]

Given the housing situation as well as work environment in most parts of the ME for expats which airline would be the most desirable from the listed :

1. Emirates--F/O B777
2. Qatar-DEC 777
3. Oman Air-B737NG Capt DEC
4. Gulf Air- A320 F/O
5. Aramco- B737NG F/O
6. Ethihad- B777 F/O
7. FlyDubai-B737NG DEC
8. JetAirways India-B737NG DEC

[TidaBisa]

Has anyone applied to FlyDubai and heard back from them ? What is the turnaround period from the time you apply?

[fractional]

TidaBisa,
Choose:
3. Oman Air-B737NG Capt DEC
1. Emirates--F/O B777
6. Ethihad- B777 F/O
7. FlyDubai-B737NG DEC (it will probably a good job, but there are uncertainties to be discovered...)
DEC is always a good step and Oman is very pleasant. Just watch housing and kids education costs if you fall under that category.
EK is the best for the housing and kids education costs.

[TidaBisa]

Thanks for your input.

[chrislikesblue]

Anyone has the tel contact in their HR?
Thanks.

[Human Cargo]

Try email instead .. They never answer the Phone there. and the emails are returned in about 2 to 3 weeks....
Very disorganized!!!

GHB

[inthecockpit]

I sent flydubai's pilot application form and cv to [email protected], wrote flydubai selection program-captain-your full name on the subject title, got reply 2 days after with the schedule time for interview.

[PilotPille]

Good morning inthecockpit,

may i ask how much experience you got? just wondering what kind of pilots they are actually inviting for an interview...

greets

[TidaBisa]

I also heard back from FlyDubai within a few days for an interview. My experience is around 12,000 TT, mostly jet, 3000 plus B737NG. Current B737NG Captain. ICAO ATPL. Asia, Middle-East, South America, North-America, European airline experience. Interview sometime in October.

[inthecockpit]

I have 8300TT all B737. PIC 4000, 800 on B737-200, 2600 on B737-CL, 600 on B737NG. ICAO ATPL, line captain (not TRI/E). Fly in Asia & ME.