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CX Freighters North American base

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Old 24th April 2001 | 23:39
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region
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Post CX Freighters North American base

Anyone working for the Freight division of Cathay Pacific in North America, or familiar with it? I am doing the second interview, and wish information on:

1. Min days off per month.

2. Normal days off per month.

3. Max schedule credit time per month.

4. Length of time to serve in Ancorage, before other North American bases become available.

5. Retirement rate (pilots per year).

6. Any info towards second interview.

In advance, much appreciated, thanks for your help.
 
Old 25th April 2001 | 05:07
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BUSDRVR
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Region,
I think you are asking all the questions that you do not want the truthful answers to. Now it all depends on where you are working now to make this CX Freighter a better deal. To enlighten you I hope a Freighter pilot will respond to your questions. But it is something like this:
on the Pax fleet based in the USA,

9 days off MIN

Retirment is 15% of income. You invest it monthly, you decide where to put it. ( it is all up to you and your financial planner ) ( but you pay tax on that money too)

700 hours per year

No credit for Duty travel and Reserve is credited at 1 for 5 hours

ANC, The guys I know are staying there 6 months, but that base transfer is all seniority dependent.

Hope this helps
REGARDS
 
Old 25th April 2001 | 05:50
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ASLr
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As far as I know, we don't get credit time for anything and no one has ever 'achieved' overtime. Rosters sometimes have as much non-productive time (deadheading, which is for free) as productive time. You don't work that hard, but you are gone a lot, riding around in the back of an airplane, positioning to Alaska or HK. Not uncommon for Captains to be gone 20 days a month.
 
Old 25th April 2001 | 19:49
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region
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Thanks posters,

I work for Air Canada Regional, living in Canada and wish to advance to the Majors. Air Canada is out of the question because of in house disputes. In regards to regionals, we probably have one of the best contracts in North America.

I'm a little confused. I had the impression CX is a well admired company around the world. I normally have between 14 to 16 days off per month (gar. min. 12 days off).I can't understand how a company of this caliber can get away with giving the pilots 9 days off min., or "not uncommon to being away from home base for 20 days". Is this for real?

How can CX pilots have a family life?

What type of pilots is CX trying to attrack?

Is CX a stepping stone?
 
Old 25th April 2001 | 21:50
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cpdude
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region, as a CX Freighter pilot all I can say is the working conditions is non-standard and lacks consistency. Freight guys get 8-11 Guaranteed days off per month and several to none "O" or soft off days off. It all depends on your position (Captain, Relief F/O, F/O) among other factors. Generally you can plan on 12-14 days off per month however, you could be home for only 8-10 if you get 2 days off in ANC and live in Toronto. Also to consider is our roster is constantly changing. Delayed/Cancelled flights occur frequently and it is not uncommon to go several weeks without an on time departure (and on time I mean within 2-3 hours of scheduled). This can make a commute difficult, as it is hard to plan. Welcome to the cargo world!

Generally guy's are hired into ANC but some have been lucky to pick up basing which have not been bidden on and went directly to LAX,JFK or ORD. Most guy's that want out of ANC get out in 1-6 months but if there is a slow down and your at the end of the hiring peak you could end up with ANC longer than anticipated. Timing is always a factor. Until last year and the purchase of more freighters, guys were stuck in ANC for approx. 2 years!

If you can't get into AC, then for a Canuck without the opportunity to work for a US major it's the next best option. I don't think 50-60K Canadian Pesos you can earn at Westjet or Canada 3000 for the first 2 years is worth it.

We fly only about 500-600 hours per year but almost as much on Duty Travel.

Starting salary is about 61K US plus your 15.5% gratuity or retirement fund.

Hope this helps, good luck!
 
Old 27th April 2001 | 17:31
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region
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Thanks Cpdude,

What do you normally do (6 days on, a few days off, then repeating)?

How many years is the salary scale from $63US up to $103US for FO?

How many years to Freighter Command (normal trend)?

How does the 15.5% retirement fund work (payed by CX and tax sheltered)?

How are the health benefits?

Has anyone tried for residence statis in the US, since being based there?

How do you rate this division?


Once more, thank you
 
Old 28th April 2001 | 05:51
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BlunderBus
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Talking

REGION.....CX's minimum requirements include people that can spell....attrack????....pick up a dictionary!
 
Old 28th April 2001 | 11:17
  #8 (permalink)  
spannersatcx
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Smile

Blundersub what a wonderful contribution you've made to what had been an informative and helpful thread. Gosh hope I haven't made any speiling mishtokes!
 
Old 28th April 2001 | 12:04
  #9 (permalink)  
St_Paul_Island
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region,

The all important question of time to command is probably best answered on this thread:

www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/Forum7/HTML/001493.html

You will not jump the queue to command by starting as FO - unfortunately for you but fortunate for those who've done the hard work ahead of you and established a company wide seniority list.

As to the other responses, pretty well correct, except that the contractual minimum days off per month is 7, (not 9), averaging to 8 over a rolling three month period. Rosters are frequently built around contractual minimums, no time off for good behaviour.

I don't know why you are confused: "...I had the impression CX is a well admired company around the world..." Well I still admire them - I don't know any other airline that currently treats all of its employees so badly! (Although CX is in good company with a few of the least reputable of the 80s airlines in the States - and look what happened to them.)
 
Old 30th April 2001 | 18:43
  #10 (permalink)  
region
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ST_PAUL_ISLAND,

Thank you for you contributions.

BLABBERSUB,

I'm terribly sorry you take offence to my spelling misshap. I'm not convinced my spelling error will prevent me from achieving my goals. Since I have made it thus far in my career, but wish to improve. If taking out your missery onto others is your way of release, you might try another approach. It might make you a happier person. Afterall, we should all strive to better ourselves.

Sincerely,

region
 

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