Schenzen Airlines

[pilotede320]

Schenzen Airlines is looking for 320 captains. any feedback on this compnay?

[Oceanic815Pilot]

Just started at Shenzhen a couple of weeks ago. Everything has gone pretty well and they are treating me great

[Level Buster]

Thinking of applying for 737 contract with Schenzen.
1.Would appreciate info on work patterns, flying hours and living in Schenzen
2.Also the possibility of upgrade to Jade after 3 years, is this realistic.
3.What are the opportunities for commuting back to Europe like... ie how frequent is this possible.
4.Thoughts on the training program.
Thanks in advance if anyone has the answers.

[Oceanic815Pilot]

Work pattern is generally 4on 2off. guaranteed 8 days a month off. can fly up to the legal limit of 100 hours a month in china but no more than 270 in a rolling 3 month period. also have the 1000 hours a year limit so i've heard the try to get you to average 80-85 actual hours a month. Shenzhen is nice and many expat communities and things to do. Nice shopping, eating, parks, expat wives club, western shops and restaurants and you are right next to hong kong. it's much cheaper than hong kong and you can get to hk many ways in just about an hour.

The jade guys all seem to be bailing right now. One of my chinese ground school instructors used to work there and even she admitted how messed up it was. heard they don't fly much and spend days overnight in undesirable places. right now i wouldn't put any hope or desire for that matter into upgrading there. there are even guys leaving there and coming to shenzhen

with the new contract there is no official commuting contract. they had it before and noone did it. officially 8 days a month off but i've heard they work with you if you want to try to pair some of those together though i have no official confrimation on that. as far as expat pilots go this is the place to be it seems with over 40 pilots from brazil, us, europe, south america, etc.

training...all i can say is welcome to china. they do things how they want, when they want and expect you to just go with the flow. you will take your caac type ride for the 737/a320 without any warm up sessions but if you are current should be fine..there was no oral. ground school so far has been a week of basic indoctrination of the gom, ops specs, mel, security, etc. we took a security test and a final exam over the rest of the subjects. the translations are bad in many cases so if you ask them enough that you don't understand the question they will just give you the answer. the tests are pretty much a group effort. we're supposed to do emergency training the week after next to include land and water evac procedures and go take a dip in the pool. after that we will get our work visa applications and start flying. you do a couple days of observation flights and then i'm told about 50 hours of ioe before they cut you loose. some of the routes they won't let the foreign pilots fly due to various reasons.

everyone has a different opinion on whether they like it or not or whether its tolerable or not. china is china and if you can deal with that you should do okay. have to remember it still is a communist country even if they have mcdonald's, kfc, starbucks, pizza hut, papa john's and wal-mart. on top of that their culture takes quite a bit of getting used to.

[Oceanic815Pilot]

Any other Jade guys care to comment on how happy they are? It's always wise to get as many opinions as possible so we can make informed decisions.

[RG500]

Just to advise you, there is no flow through program from Shenzhen Airlines to Jade. The agencies are talking through their hats.
Jade Management has advised that if there is any more hiring, it will only only be F/O positions. Due to their decision to upgrade within, there will be no more direct entry Captain or PICC positions. There was a program where Jade F/O's went to Shenzhen for the upgrade to get left seat time, but due to the disorganization of Shenzhen Airlines, one individual was paid for 8 months as a captain and never trained.

[Norton29]

What kind of housing can one expect to have their based on salary at shenzhen? Also kids schooling?

[Oceanic815Pilot]

pay for shenzhen is 11,750USD per month which includes all of the housing and travel allowances that was in the old contract. training bonus of up to 5000usd depending on how long you are on half pay during training. completion bonuses of 6,8, and 10k usd your first, second and third plus years respectively. currently we get a 20% discount off of tuition at the qsi school in shenzhen

[islandbomber]

Coming over for interview later this month. Does anyone have info on what exactly to expect over the 4 days? Also how long does groundtraining etc take and how is life in Shekou?

P.S how much is a bottle of wine cost !?;)

[blinville]

I'd stay from WASINC. They'll try to pass their expenses on to you with the promise to reimburse you. Sometimes you get reimbursed, sometimes you don't. Airline tickets, hotel rooms should be purchased by the recruiter. If you let them talk you into putting them on to your credit card you might get burned. Check pprune for verification, don't take my word.

Doug Ward (corporate officer, Wasinc) Nice guy, promises you anything, sometimes he delivers. I wouldn't bet on anything he says. His track record is less than 50-50. Again check this out on pprune.

[purple head]

Shenzhen have set up their own pilot agency. Probably better to contact them direct and use their official agency rather than WASINC.

[chrislikesblue]

Anyone could give us the recruitment contact of Shenzhen or Jade?

[JotaJota]

I am not aware of Shenzhen doing any in-house recruiting. All my friends there are with WASINC or RAL...

[Hoggin]

I couldnt agree more concerning the comments about Wasinc. They will promise you the world but when it come down to it they are powerless. Also, EVERYTHING will be remibursed according to them but the reality of the situation is nothing usually happens. I have come to learn that flying in China is a risky deal and that contracts mean nothing. Just ask the guys up in Xian. They are living proof that contracts mean nothing and that Wasinc is powerless.

[RWP]

Hey Blinville,

Interesting that your PPrune name is exactly the same as one of the recruiters that works at WASINC. What an interesting coincidence.

That is the problem with these message boards, complete and total anonymity. Or maybe a blessing.

[Juniorslm]

dont believe a word that that tell you, it will all change when you get there.. they say you will get pay for your air-fare it might happen 2-3 weeks later. I promise you wont get it when you go for you interview.

but it only gets better when you go back for work..


If you would like to know more about WASINC, email me at [email protected]

[Turkpilot]

Dude, Bessie Wang? Why are u pretending to be the Head of FRI????? You speak total BS. We just had 2 guys goto China Postal, and quite a few others went elsewhere. As long as you finish the contract its not a problem.

[JotaJota]

Yep, and a BCA guy went to Tianjing... After finishing his contract.