Second Officer Position at Cathay
 

Hello Cathay Crew,

I am invited for the interview for the SO- Position. Most things I read here about the Airline do not sound so positive. For an outsider, Cathay always looked as an employer you want to work for.
Right now I am flying the Q400 (30t Turboprop) for two years now. I am working in Europe in a country with very good employee's rights (laws). My employer was just bought from Lufthansa and my job seems safe.

It would appreciate if you could answer me this questions (here or via PM):

1. Because I am reading that many CX Pilots return to Europe/ America I would like to know, what exactly is really so bad?

2. How long does it take to be upgraded from the SO to the FO?

3. I have friends that have applied for HongKong Airlines and Cathay. What would be the better choice?

first question
are you a troll?

No,
why do you ask?

Because having found this site you have to be kidding. Right?

I made a thread called CX, KA .... HKA?
Lots of info there if you aren't actually just trolling.

By the looks of it, you have done minimal research before posting this.

You'll be wasting your time at CX, 4-5 years before the upgrade to JFO (and it's not a guaranteed upgrade too, bare in mind you have to pass the upgrade selection, other airlines won't recognize your cruise relief time in case you failed.)

Hong Kong is one of the most expensive cities in the world, more so than London. Half of your salary would go into paying rent! If you want to move to long-haul, you would be better off applying for the likes of Norwegian, Virgin and BA who known to have previously taken on pilots with prop time.

Working for HX you would be on your literally be on your own, the show is mainly run by mainland Chinese, Malaysian from MAS and Air Asia, Filipino from PAL, and recently some Mexican (not many local except those who failed the upgrade at CX or expats from Europe), consider it as another mainline Chinese airline where pilots who want to go to China but not fit enough for CAAC medical, so ended up in HX to get their free type rating on a widebody before moving off to ME3. HX's parent company are in trouble recently. So you might be applying for a new job soon after joining them...

www.bloomberg (dot) com/news/articles/2018-01-05/hna-units-are-said-to-have-missed-payments-to-more-chinese-banks-jc1t4qfi

As an EASA pilot, I would strongly recommend against joining any airlines in Hong Kong for the time being, there are way too many opportunities in Europe now and uncertainty in the far east. Before you make any move, I strongly suggest you spend some time on this forum. The grass isn't greener on the other side. Good luck!

Way of the world now !

My company recently installed live chat on its website - now people don't read a thing on the site or navigate around it by clicking on different pages - they certainly wouldn't call on the phone to ask a human being.

People now go straight to the live chat and ask things like, "how much", etc, etc ...... and it's right there on the page (perhaps right beside the live chat icon) to be read ! Might as well have a one page site that's blank with a live chat icon on it.

Mind you I'm a dinosaur - I still wipe my own a***

By virtue of what’s said on this site,don’t bother. Fragrant Harbour is the most depressing part of pprune. CX sounds like a custodial sentence.

No kidding, any time on the Q400, especially left seat, is better than CX SO time. Honestly, pay your dues in Europe and then get a real airline job. The apparent shortcut at CX is actually a briar patch. It’s tortoise vs the hare, are you looking to win the start or the whole race? Stay the course, avoid the high cost of living in HK and all the uncertainty of a constantly under-attack CX contract. I would give this very same advice to my own kid or anyone I care about.

Why not just tell them you are only interested in a direct entry first officer position and see why comes of it.

... because you’re still 14+ years to command unless enough of the real pilots get driven out of town by horrible conditions. You get a barely livable in HK CoS either way.

Etops330 and xorcist: Thank you for your competent answer. This makes the descision much easier.

schweizer2: Thanks for the advise. I was reading "Fragrant Harbour" for around 25minutes and did not come to your thread.
I was hoping to read more positive aspects about CX, so I opened this threat and hoped for a favourably answer.

swh: absolutely

If a company starts cutting wages, that might be a sign of not better working there. It never ever saved an Airline in history of aviation.
So no one of us should be undervalued. We are taking a huge amount of responsibilty and most of us paid an expensive pilot training. This must be appreciated by the employer.

pac84. I wish you the very best with your career. I should add, as per your last comment, CX management have no appreciation for anything of concern with their pilots, because they consist mainly of people who loath, resent and envy pilots. They have no understanding of anything to do with our career concerns or sacrifices. They are wholly unsuited for purpose, and you will do well do stay far away. There are many good employers in your part of the world, and ultimately I believe you (and your family) will be much happier there.

If you have a toxic view of all pilots and zero empathy for such a fundamental part of the Company - why would you go into Airline Management?
Beats me!

... because you were “voluntold” by Swire to do so and have huge bonuses present and future riding on making the excel spreadsheet “look” right. You see, the real failing is at Swire in the UK. They either don’t care enough or are too stupid to hire / appoint managers to CX who know what they are doing. That combined with stick in the mud “leadership” which thinks doing things a certain way is best simply because that is the way they have always been done in the past creates a rapidly failing airline in a fast changing industry. In fairness, CX recognizes the need to “transform” but to them that is simply code for cost cutting, mostly from employees.

Heaven forbid they transform into a company that cares about its employees :rolleyes:

And join the ranks of unsuccessful airlines like Southwest Airlines and Virgin? They're too smart for that! :ugh:

Our genius management know better than to incorporate the failed management ideas from airlines such as Southwest. Why on earth would you want happy, motivated and loyal employees like they have?

Notwithstanding the influence of current events and all the bad feeling generated (along with the management attitude and dishonesty) and after nearly 30 years in HK having been witness first hand to how this company treats its staff...... I must honestly in all conscience recommend you look elsewhere for your own good.