Emirates Stay or Go
 

I am in the fortunate position of holding rank of Captain with a UK Charter company and for those of you who are out of work I apologise for my pontificating as I am already holding a post that to most would seem enviable.
Emirates have offered me a position of First Officer. I have a wife and kids. For those guys there or indeed who have just made the decision can you enlighten me on your decision making process.
Any regrets and if so what. I am hoping that you all had similar apprehensive thoughts. I would appreciate those thoughts.
Many Thanks

IMHO
 

1. What do you want to do?
2. All equal, hopefully no negative change, what is the lifetime earning potential, to include provident funds or pension?
3. What is the job security and the stability of the companies?
4. What is the quality of life and benefits?
5. Would you truly be happy overseas? What about your family?

Those are some of the questions you should consider. Here in the States many hold command on RJ's or some other reasonably well paying National Airline, but when time comes, nothing beats being at the majors. Most will actually take a pretty good pay cut and move to the right seat, but on the long run, it's worth it. Of course, now many wish stay stayed at their previus job, but no one could predict Sep 11 and the following rapid decline of aviation.
Good luck with your decision.
What are your qualifications?

I would stay put. Dubai is a nice place (for a holiday). Outside that it wears thin fairly quickley. Think of the long term. Will you really want to be living there in 10 or 20 years from now. Everybody will eventually move on and with airlines being seniority based systems what position do you come back to in the UK pilot market? It's a tough one.

Emirates - stay or go!
 

Did your wife come with for the interview? and is she keen to move here? I came with my hubby and really liked what I saw, and felt totally commited to the move. There are a lot of happy people with the Emirates, it is a good place to bring up kids, and I as a wife love living here, my hubby also had to leave the left hand seat from a pretty big airline to come here, he to has no regrets and 3 years to command goes pretty quickly. They are a very successful airline, getting bigger all the time, and unlike Count a lot of us are happy to be here for the next 10 years and longer, in fact a lot of Emirates chaps have already bought property here. Good luck with your decision - if there is anything else you would like to know, I will try my best to answer it.

Good Question.
The single biggest issue in my opinion is the combined question of how long do i think i want to stay, and how am i going to escape when the time comes. For me, I only want to do around 10 years here, but i need a job to leave. At the moment there are no jobs. Will there be any in the future? Who knows. If there are, will they pay enough? Who knows. Will I be able to leave after 10 years? Who knows. One thing is sure though. If you have kids, it is unlikely you will have saved/invested enough to retire after 10 years. The provident fund will only provide a robust deposit for a house in that time.
The other big issue for me (and most of my compatriots) is that we do not want our children spending their high school years in Dubai. I am not going to go into the reasons for this, but they are many and varied. So my plan is that my kids will go home for high school. That leaves my wife and i with a difficult decision. Do we send them to board and essentially lose them? Do we send the wife home with them and I commute? (far from ideal). Or do i just chuck it in and hope something comes up?
The job here is good, and life is fun and easy. But it is not a place where most people want to stay until they are 60. If you can realistically see a way around this, or you think you will be happy to stay here until you are 50 or 60, then come on down. If you are not sure, you may well be better off staying put and reaping the benefits of staying at home. It is fair to say that many people love the life here and have no intention of leaving. It is also true that many people are separated from their families, spending a lot of time travelling, generally hate the circumstance that they find themselves in, but are unable to leave due to the golden handcuffs that you can find yourself in after 10 years with Emirates. Good luck

Doug, I'm 100% with you on your comments. If you are able to realistically say you can hack staying here till you retire then there shouldn't be any dramas. I personally don't want to do that so with kids approaching their high school years I'm faced with the boarding/commuting/find another job problem.

Curiously.....

your handle isnt after THE Reverend Dr. Doug Mulray is it.....
that would I gues make you an ozi :)

If you are referring to the VERY Reverend Doctor Doug Mulray of MMM fame, then you may be close to uncovering my closely kept secret. i.e Like Doug, i too have an excellent head for radio. But it is no guarantee that i am Australian.

Count,
If you think Dubai wears thin quickly you should try Riyadh on for size:D
Ott,
For my two cents worth my advice is don't leave unless there is something better to go to. I'm in Riyadh and do not regret having come here as I know that in the end I will be so much better off than if I had stayed in the Air Force. Don't be afraid to make the jump the world is more than doing what is safe. Have some fun too.:cool:

With the mention of the exalted one's name (The Reverend Doctor Doug Mulray), I propose a minute's respectful silence.

Hey Rev' Remember.......
 

Rolland Rolladoor
Bogdan & Denuta
Mr Fime & Rachel
Andrew the boy wonder from indoor cricket
Miss Lizzy
Gloria & Keith

Rocket Reg
The Black piston of Bronte

:o Red ones &:eek: Blue ones Mulloes

UP THE STICK! :D :D

Very well written Doug.I wish I had seen your summary before
coming.I to have the fear of what will happen at the 10 year mark
and the monthly increases in the cost of living is beginning to make its mark on the savings not to mention the performance of the provident fund.Ott if you are coming to escape the weather and you believe you can return to Europe and resume your current status in a short time it could be a enjoyable time and a change of scenery however in the long term I would look very closely at all the conditions before making the big D.:)

Iam presently with an airline which provides a good pension but the annual salary is low.I would be interested to know how good the Emirates Provident fund is.What is the fund approximatley worth to someone who stays the minimum 10 years or possibly 20 years based on an upgrade to Captain at the present wait of three years.
Appreciate any information thanks

International Hog Driver,

Ahhhh yessss. Those were the days. When driving to work meant laughing your t*ts off instead of fearing for you life on Sheikh Z Road.

The Rev

Santan77

I wouldn't want to comment in detail on the Provident fund because it has many variations (i.e you have some control over how your money is invested). I can tell you though, that after several years here, i have less in it than has been contributed. You must allow for the fact that the company puts in 12% or something like that. So i am ahead technically, but as i said, the value is less than the contributions to date. I can also add that some longer term contributors have confided that they are down around 30% over the last couple of years. 30% representing around 100K US apparently. These are guys who have been here in excess of 10 years already. So that should give you an idea of how we are looking.

Pengintai......

A minute is hereby observed.....

to the Rev;)

Yes Rev.........I suspect mulloes caused more accidents on the m4 (f4 in the old days) from laughter than bad drivers!