So what are you complaining about?

As far as Pay to Fly goes, yes if you look at it in the way that you give them money to fly yes.. but if you're not up to standards even though you've given them a lot of money ABY is not willing to risk the safety of 100's of others because you've got money... simple.

Return on investment? Let's say you've got F/O in 3 years of starting at Alpha and now on average AED35k/month (we won't include the time up to F/O making the "low salary" plus flying allowance); you're making AED420k/year all inclusive. Lets say you decide to rent a nice apartment and get a loan for a car you'd never get in the western world because if you did it would either get stolen or keyed, you're left with about AED250k. Now lets say you don't live in poverty but not blowing your money every week on stupid stuff, you spend AED50k/year on recreation.

You're left with around AED200k that you can put towards your debt of AED570k and have it paid off in 3 years whilst living the lifestyle that most go to Dubai to live.

Now lets take the Oxford Cadet scheme with lets say JetStar... It costs around AU$120-150k same sort of scheme and eventually you get into an a320. (we'll assume after 3 years) now you are on AU$90k/year, you get taxed around AU$21.5k leaving you with around AU$68.5k. I won't even bother doing that math on the same living the same lifestyle as you would in Dubai. Having an apartment in downtown Sydney or Melbourne is easily be $1,500/week!

Anyways, you all get the picture. In my mind, good return on investment...but what do I know.

Fly safe.

A380neo,

Do you get a contract before you have the 1,500hrs or after that? What are the thoughts within ABY? Do they want to keep the MPL students, or to they want to loose them? So they can have their scheme running...

Keep the blue side up dude.

Valid question,

A lot of the cadets going through the programme have said around the 750hr mark ABY will offer the contract to keep you after the 1,500hrs. If you're performance isn't up to standard they will continue to monitor your progress and re-asses at 1,000hrs then again at 1,500hrs.

ABY don't hire pilots other than direct entry Captain as they want all MPLs to fill in the other spots. They currently have 40 something 320s with plans on ordering 40 more. Recently got delivery of 4 so growth isn't an issue. At the end of the day they want to keep you.

40 more aircraft ? Really ?

Correct, not sure exact number but around that mark or in high 30's. Makes sense with all the attrition of MPL students.

Can you provide any evidence of this ? I might be mistaken but all I see is that they confirmed the 5 options from the original 44 aircraft order which will top up the fleet . Unless you know something on the inside

@380neo,

Firstly you don't earn AED35k for a very long time , it's an experienced base pay scale and you are at the bottom when you start .

Nice apartment ? You'll be staying in Sharjah which is a complete disaster , no infrastructure , strict rules and parts of it could be dangerous . Want to go to dubai and commute ? Minimum you are looking at 65-70k for an appartnebt that not good. Want nicer ones ? Executive towers/ dubai marina /Palm , at least a 100k. And landlords like one cheque

Yup Aby will cut you loose for any reason , even if they don't like you .

Admin at alpha is poor , not organized , a batch was stuck for months with passports in the Portuguese embassy .

Many instructors teaching ground school have limited experience

Just by the look of the place you can tell they've cut costs, ally harmony and they could have at least uograded facilities

Good stuff? I think Aby now has got training down to an art, I think most line trainjng captains are good and people are finishing finally, the long term viability of this with command upgrades , I don't know , I'm not very positive.

If someone wants to start now, the outlook needs to be positive for something like 4-5 years. Within this period, the candidate is already a FO with those 1500hrs. From that moment, it all depends on the person itself. Maybe he/she wants to fly for another carrier a la EK/QR/EY?

Air Arabia is not anymore an airline from Sharjah, but also from other places (Morocco, Egypt, Jordan). In my eyes, it is getting stronger.

AAA has never been an option for me (costwise), but for those who can afford, it can be a good investment.

Confirmed thru ops. Sole reason AAA taking on so many cadets with the 1500H promise.

Judging from your previous posts, you seem to be a newbie , don't let office rumours fool you. Things change quick

Professional Pilots Rumour Network

Maybe I missed the part in t&c's where it said office rumors strictly prohibited. :=

@psvspnf
If you were the FO who had that incident in KRT, I agree you had a hard deal.

Lol no I was not. I don't fly for ABY. I don't work in the sandpit, and I don't fly the a320.

I fly the bigger bus quite far away but have a very good idea on how the sand box works .

What happened in KRT? MPL incident ?

Okay thanks!

The program itself is about 20k+ USD more than CTC's QR program, add the accommodation costs + the poor starting salary in comparison, you're running at about 225k usd debt, at a salary that pays 1500/mo usd to start...and then 5000 usd/mo basic FO...just wow....dont forget the bond with the type rating cost infused to make sure you dont leave!

Seem's like a scheme for the rich already living in the sandpits...

20K+ USD compared to the CTC Whitewings scheme. But in return 1500H on A320, provided you are passing to ABY's standard. I'm not going to rant and rave about the course but it beats what other FTO's offer in terms of frozen ATPL.

CTC also have a nifty clause which says 98% of pilots go on to be FO's. The catch being this also includes their own scheme which is far from meaningful employment as a FO.

Now it's up to you which you would prefer..

I'm not sure why you're such an avid fan of this scheme, it really is diabolical, but each to their own, I just couldn't afford it (even if I could I wouldn't go here though).

Becoming a pilot these days is almost like making an investment. This scheme is one of the poorer investments on all fronts. The school's attitude towards its students and those inquiring says everything you need to know about them anyway.

You are correct and the price is steep. Thankfully I am enrolled in a cadet program back home, but this would have been my main choice given the hours. Cadets that perform will make it, otherwise yes you are at the mercy of the airline.

What more is there to say?

You hit the nail with the schools attitude. They could care less and are arrogant. Part of the problem is the students themselves , just visit the place , rich kids , uniforms are worn poorly, talking loudly , excessive smoking and selfie taking is all present. Not professional

Excessive smoking yes. :ok: I was surprised by that too. As for attitude etc, I can only focus on myself and I believe its a big part. Accepting the environment and making it work no matter what.

Those who perform in the top of the batch have no problems or so I was given the impression.