Cathay SO - Choice between 777 and 747
 

Hi all

I am joining Cathay next year as a SO based in HK.

They have offered me a choice between the 747 and 777 fleet.

Personally I love the 777, but I realise that for 3 years I will not really be flying the machine at all.

I would appreciate any other constructive inputs to help with my decision eg: Routes, stopovers, schedule flying days, etc.
btw, I need to let them know within 24 hours.

Thanks in advance
PP

JNB
 

Plan is for 777 to pick up JNB year-round from Oct next year.

777 to JNB?
 

Kane Toed,

I find that information very interesting as i (so far) have not heard any new destination rumours outside of North America.

Would you mind elaborating on this info and any other possible destinations for the 777?

thanks in advance

Quite sure about JNB. 777 CP has indicated that couple of times while talking about the 'B' of the GE90-115'B', which is bump thrust for higher altitudes airports.

Are the A346's really leaving?
 

A quick search of the schedule on the cathaypacific.com website shows the A346 operating the route until 23 October 2008. The 744 then takes over as usual.

Were the 600's not meant to be leaving June, Aug, Sept 2008?
Has anybody been to a fleet forum lately?

W2

The way I see it is as follows:

747
Pros
Better destinations (Europe, American West Coast)
Not brand new, but still the biggest in the fleet and an all time classic

Cons
Most crew members will probably be based at the destinations, so probably not that much crew activities on trip.

777-300ER
Pros
Brand new aircraft with all the latest bells and whistles
Crew probably still mostly HK based, so maybe a party or two while on trip.

Cons
At the moment, not the best destinations.

Off course as the 777s become more, they will probably start doing more and more destinations.


The Johannesburg route is not that important to me at all. (Only a 24 hour stop over) which does not really give enough time to visit friends/family.

Oh well, maybe I should flip a coin...

The A340-600s are leaving the fleet next year to join Hainan Airlines. This has been announced today by ILFC.

it's a hard call. if we look at pitot probe's pros and cons list, we dont know when/if the 747's pros and cons (better destination/more based crew) will be inherited by 77A.

it sure seems to go that direction, but no one knows when this will start to take place.

Maybe someone can answer these..

Are there SOs on the 777-200 and 300. And what routes are they used on?

If you are a So on the 747, I understand that they can use you on the freighter fleet as well - is this to be seen as a Pro or Con?

747
Cons:
Mike F@#$ Lowes

The SOs on the 777 will fly all variants of it, but there is only one non-ER trip that uses SOs: Bahrain. Since there are so many 777 SOs now, expect to fly zero to one BAH trip a month.

Compare that to the three 777 SOs who started 2 years ago who flew Bahrain exclusively... what a life, eh?

I think another pro for the 777 fleet is that you have younger captains and apparently none of the long-sleeve brigade.
SW

How much do you like making beds? Expect 4 years as an SO.

744= 3 trips per month = 6 sectors per month = 72 sectors per year = times two bunks (SO makes both on this fleet) = 144 bunks per month = 576 beds to make.


777 = 2 ULH per month, just make your own bed.= 192 bunks over same time frame

Therefore choosing 744 means 384 more beds to make
Also you will incur some permanent hearing loss on 744 over 4 years due to no noise canceling headset on pax fleet and a supersonic shockwave attached to the no.2 window about 12 inches from your ear.:ok:

For the 777 SOs on the BAH trip, please confirm that they operate HKG-BAH, layover at BAH, then pax BAH-RUH and operate RUH-HKG? Thanks!

That is my understanding, yes.

Thank you all for your input!

I have made up my mind about 17 times, and every time on the other fleet!!

My final decision fell on the 777.
I spoke to as many people that is flying the new ERs and only got good feedback. Everyone seems excited and motivated!

The fleet is also rapidly expanding and therefore hopefully by end next year the routes will become more and maybe start including Europe as well.

(And then off course it's less beds to make;))

The 777 has always been my favourite Boeing aircraft, not to mention the Ge115Bs! (so maybe the decision came from the heart... :sad:)

Thanks again
PP

More info please, How do you figure that they will only do two trips a month,
I would have thought that it will be 2 x NYC a month and one other trip to fill the roster? Or are you assuming that the third trip doesnt have bunks fitted to the airframe

a HKG-JFK-HKG is about 35hrs, x 2 =70 hrs. Only leaves 14 hrs for the rest of the month. Unless you do the first half of one trip right at the end of the month, so that the return falls into the following month, or overtime.

aaaaaaaaaaa

houses, glass, stones....