CX Resignations
 

Rumour on the street that 4 Airbus FO's have resigned recently.

Destination - Virgin Blue

Can you blame them?

The Airbus has their fair share of narcissists as well.

I'm not the only person who displays egotism, vanity & conceit, with an elitist attitudes towards my undeserving first officers.

Must run & freshen up my mustache .... I have a command party that I need to crash :eek:

Well, with aussie dollar at parity with USD, the calculations for aussies to go expat do change a bit...

Heard that 1 of them is actually joining South African Scareways - as a second officer!

With even the SA Rand now stronger than the Honkie dollar, continuous erosion of conditions of service at CX, which was once the "envy of the world", we are in for some interesting times.

And with the boys (and FA girls!) gearing up for a major confrontation with management, things will certainly "get worse before they get better" (famous words from Tyler-the-Liar)...

Er, um make that 2. Another 8 have interviews at SAA.

Resigned?
 

But their command was only another 10 years away, what are they thinking?:ugh:

dont you mean with 10 years invested and "command only another 10 years away"?

Then after you've waited 20 years and done 5000,000 assessments, command lofts, interviews and management checks you finally get to do your command pleasantries with legends like myself :ok:

Did you know that my call-sign on the Caribou was "Handsome" ??

I miss those days .....

Yes Bm that's exactly what I meant

A step up to a Low Cost Carrier.......
 

Quote - "Rumour on the street that 4 Airbus FO's have resigned recently.

Destination - Virgin Blue"

Brilliant, Cathay can be truly proud that we now have pilots joining a Low Cost Budget airline to get a pay rise.

Unbelievable..... and its only going to get worse, isn't it Sten gun!

As a keen observer of the profession of 'pilot' over the past 50+ years and a participant for over 30 years , one correlation I have been able to make is that pilot T&C's is now globally arbitraged item, in a very similar manner to iPhones, digital cameras, and all other forms of electrical appliances.

Fact of life... you just have to choose which country to live in whilst you are being screwed. :ugh:

VB
 

Are these gents going to be part of VB´s new A330 ops or joining the 737/Emb fleet???

Fortune favours the brave!
 

Well done to you guys that have the balls to jump ship, I'm no quite there yet.:ok:
I have been looking though and within the next 6 months may be a good time to do so. If you look on the terms & Endearment section you'll see loads of airlines are starting recruitment and yes incl a drive at SAA as someone mentioned.

You may think you'll win abit of a salary increase here but the trend in the long run will not be good. The courts mean Jack here and pilots find it difficult to stand together.

My guest is CX will continue to drive ATK down while new capacity comes in. There will come a time when the cost efficiency of new planes will reflect in the share price & it will be driven sky high. Swire will then offload a big chunk to the Chinese.

How much leverage will we have then? If the courts are unreliable now, how bad will they be then? Your home country with better labour protection is a better choice for the young.

CX Managers are such losers, a winning & admirable team is no longer important to them. They more interested in playing the game against us than with us. Sad and I don't ever see it changing.:uhoh:

Good luck to you guys. You may or may not have matching dollar for the short term, but in the long run you certainly make up for it. You & your families will certainly have a healthier & happier quality of life. Enjoy

Fortune favours the brave!

when were you on the Caribou?
I flew 'em for the Reserves back in the 80's

Bill

Interesting to note a recent management communication trumpeting the number of upgrades supposedly on the way. If true, these resignations might have touched a nerve...or is it a carrot to deflect attention from the need for a pay rise :suspect: ?

P.S. Captain Toss, I think there's a gent here who flew Caribous; I'm sure he would love to hear from you!

Heard 11 have resigned in the last week. At least 4 are FOs on Aussi base. Double tax, no pay increases, crap rostering, c*nt managers, another 10 years to command with no conpensation...no wonder!

Good on them! So much for CX being a career airline!

Upgrades? Yes, but they don't have the trainers to do it, for those numbers bandied about. I think they are suddenly realising they lost another "Opportunity" to have done this about 12 -18 months ago. :=

Without improvements in pay, and opportunities to upgrade soon, they can expect more to go. A Payrise may plug the leak first, but more has to change.

They will only be too happy for more to go. Employ DEFOs on lesser contracts!

You may be right Baywatcher, but when the airplanes aren't flying, then things will turn nasty. Don't forget that one of the largest pilot suppliers in the world, the US, is starting to hire en mass again, and it's not going to stop for a long time. I believe that within 12 months, we will be right back where we were in 2007, and this time it will just continue to get worse.

box

Heard a CEP F/O left for SIA.

Also don't forget the 8 or so CEP's that :Dhave interviews with HKA for A330 positions.

So Sten old son, it looks like you are about to start earning your keep. Lets see how you deal with the next couple of months.

Basings negotiations, court cases and now resignations.........enjoy the bed you've made for yourself! :D

As an FO based in HK looks ahead, not only is their command years away, but a basing as a CN in their home country will be virtually impossible.
So unless, you're willing to spend the next 20 years in HK, while your children develop Asthma, Virgin Blue looks attractive.
We haven't had a payraise since 2001 and the CX package is falling behind, especially when you compare quality of life in your home country to a 1000 sq. ft. flat in HK.

1000 sq ft - you lucky bastard!

And new joiners - how many sq ft do you get for $0 allowance?

Fark All.....!!!

All this talk, but...when it comes right down to action, very few at CX are prepared to cut the cord.
AOA?
Members/non members cannot agree on the time of day.
A sorry lot.:eek:

411A,

With your history of calculating acceptable T/O performance and acceptable MEL's perhaps you shouldn't be giving advice to CX pilots on careers:=

I think 411 is also on a short rope with the third floor right now.....

Apparently the Aussie boys have got their long term service paid out before CX manages to weasel out of it. Didn't go without a fight and involvement of the labour tribunal and threatening legal action.

Now looks like the time to jump before CX does something drastic like close the base. :eek:

How long is the CX Notice Period?

Starskate,

There are indeed some furloughs left in the US, but how many of them do you think will come back to their original employers? Probably half. I'm not talking about the US economy, I'm simply talking about the massive retirement numbers coming up in the next 8 years. Combine that with the fact that US airlines have been running bare-bones for 9 years, and there is no other conclusion, the US airlines are going to hire and hire a lot. Delta is already hiring approx 600 next year, Southwest is going to hire, Continental is going to take back some of the United furloughs, etc. Delta, starting in 2 years, has approximately 800 retirements a year for the next 8 years. Average age at US Air is around 54 years, same situation at United. I'm not saying that the US economy is healthy, I believe just the opposite, but flying is now mass-transit, and even in a bad economy, the planes aren't going to stop flying. We all have our beliefs and ideas, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the outcome is.

box

About 1/2 of the SO's I fly with are seriously considering leaving. Even if 10% of those go, that would a be a bigger chunk than I have seen or heard leave Cx.

Cathay is in for a rude awakening.
I can't tell how many Fo's told me they are looking elsewhere. Practically on every flight......

...Anyone?

And good look trying to hire quality applicants in the future! A new guy/girl hired today will have more than 1500 FO/SO in total ahead of him/her on the seniority list, awaiting a command.

At 80 commands a year, that's 19 years to command, not including downturns and the various slowdown that happen from time to time. To put that in perspective, if the average age of the newly hired crew is 30-35, he won't get his command until he's 50-55 years old. In other words, newly hired crew will be career First Officers.

And they'll be stuck on the FO pay scale for a very very long time, which by the way has no more annual increments after year 12.

Capt Resignees
 

I understand lots of F/O's and S/O's wanting to resign.
This is now below par even for a low cost carrier.
CX is NOT a career airline at all.
I believe there is a global shift toward no seniority system, and with Direct Entry Commands, DEFO's (at all airlines) -not just CX- we will slowly see the migration of pilots to the next highest bidder.
5 years here, -next terms no good-5 years with SIA or Korean or a Euro carrier.

I would like to know how many Capts are resigning from CX.
That would be a good indicator. Also the senior F/O's also leaving is an "up-yours" to CX.

S/O's who leave after a year or two- sorry guys -no insult intended- but mismanagement would just consider that a change of mind rather than an outright f%$k you. Guys who've done time and then leave-different story.

For those who are leaving- well done-best choice you'll ever make. I wish I'd taken the VB offer when it was given a while ago...oh well!

Good luck to you.:ok:

I will second the opinion that leaving will probably be the best thing you've ever done. Considering time to command, family lifestyle in Hong Kong and the abysmal employee relations that CX offers and almost seems proud of, is there really another choice?

I left as an SO, and am now flying the same type for more pay as a TRI, I get to live where I want and they buy me a ticket to work. My 2 year old doesn't have to breathe filth or live in a shoebox. I still get to visit HK monthly, and get a nice hotel room. Of course, there are some drawbacks - I don't get to wear a hat, and people will hit me if I preface my callsign with "the". Oh well, can't have it all eh?!

@Air1980: "The" prefix
 

Which Cathay were you working for? I've not heard anyone in CX using "the" in front of their callsign.

PS Agree with the hat comment though

Another F/O quit this week he is also going to SAA in March.

That "the" prefix was a predominantly Speedbird affectation - Nigel with delusions of 'Droit de Segneur.'