Cathay Salary and other questions
 

Have 1st interview (DEFO) scheduled in Nov in Vancouver and had a few questions:

- Does anyone have the current pay scale for both the freighter and the passenger sides of the house?
- Do these pay scales already include the base salary and hourly flight pay?
- Is the passenger business more rewarding than the freighter business in terms of work schedule? More perks?
- What's the upgrade time to Capt in the Freighter business vs the passenger business?
- Can anyone comment on the life style when flying out of US Bases (i.e., work days pe month)?
Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.
75DRIVER

show me the money
 

Does anyone know the salary for a new hire, Melbourne base on the cargo fleet?

pay scales
 

I have a very rough list as to what the ranks would get paid, mind you this list is a tad old and i would do a little extra research.

S/O HKD 386,556
JFO HKD 593,052
FO HKD 771,180
Cpt HKD 1,180,500

least thats the info i was given in the little cadet entry booklet its dated July 2001 so not too accurate but its ball park i believe. Then there is over time and all the extras that cathay provide. Im not quite there yet!
hope it helps.

Thanks BJBB. Appreciate the info. Are you an SO?

US freighter as an FO:

fly from your base to ANC, stay 24 hours or so.
Fly to HKG and stay 24 hours or so, then reverse.

10 to 12 days a month.

Sometimes now with more North American flying fly from your base to ANC stay there and then fly back to your base a day later.

42 days a year of vacation as well.

Junior Man,
Appreciate the scheduling info. Just want to confirm the FO pay based out of US freighter base:
Basic salary (63,000) + hourly pay + per diem (payed at each RON) + yearly bonus (1 month pay). Is that about right?
- Do you get to request a specific base (i.e., anchorage)?
- What are the junior US bases?
- Do most guys move to the pax fleet at the end of 3.5 years?
- What's your best guess as to what an FO will get at 5 years flying with the freighter fleet? with the pax fleet?
- What's the time to upgrade to Capt in the freighter? in the pax fleet?

Appreciate any answers you can provide. Just trying to get the best info on CX. Thanks again.

i wish...
 

757driver,

I wish i was an SO or anything in the business end of an aircraft for cathay but... Im still in school!!! but have interview on the 21st Dec for the cadetship, very excited and obviously apprehensive.

no worries with the info, hope it helped,

Bjbb:ok:

No months salary bonus on the freighter, HK based only.
Upgrade could be as fast as a year or so but it would depend on your experience. It is also challenging to do early in your career, not many pass the command course on the first time. There is a lot to learn, best to take some time to settle into the operation before rushing into command.
Pax fleet pays more, that is why many choose to transfer to the pax fleet instead of upgrading on the freighter. Also if you bid HK you will get a housing allowance as well.
Pax command is I think around 9 years right now.
You get to request bases and they will call you for a class when they have an opening. NYC and LAX seem to be the places where there are openings. ATL has no openings and ORD is a Captain base only right now. If ORD opens up it will be filled with current FOs. ANC is a small base.
Scheduling is not by bidding. They build your schedule for you. You can request days off if you need them before the schedules are built. There is no senior or junior lines.

Junior Man,
Thanks for the great info. Are most guys happy they chose CX over their other choices? Are they happy with the pay? Are you planning to move to Hong Kong when you get the opportunity or are you planning to upgrade and stay in the freighter? If you fail the command course, will you get another opportunity at command a year later, or do you only get 1 shot at upgrade? Overall, does management try to take care of the pilots? I've heard you should plan to work 12-15 days per month, is that right? Lots of questions, so just answer those that you want. Appreciate it!
75driver

I am a NYC based FO and have 17 days off this month. I commute and have 15 full days at home.

Mayday

Most of the guys I know are happy. It depends more on you with Cathay.
Do not expect things to be the same as in US. If you expect differences and different people and adapt to new things well you will probably be happy. If you are going to get irritated that some things are done differently, that there are some cultural differences then you may find yourself unhappy. Going to work for an airline on the other side of the planet can be a lot of fun and interesting. It will also be different.

Not quite clear...
 

I'm finding a couple of points on the Cathay hiring process a bit confusing. (Roughly) where does the boundary lie which separates candidates they are hiring for SO and candidates for FO? I'm on about 2700 hours with about 1000 on the GV (right seat). Where does that put me?!
Also - I live in LA. Can I stay there as an FO?! I gather I can't as an SO. Do I have to move until an LA 'posting' becomes available?!
Sorry if these are dumb questions...

I think mins for DEFO are 3000 total, ATP, 1000 turbine. You can just do what I did and apply for a specific position. On the application I only checked DEFO. I'm not interested in the DESO spot. However, at the interview I was asked if I would accept a DESO spot. Anyway good luck.

As a DEFO you can get an LAX base on the freighter.
SO means HKG base. HKG base has some advantages.

Saying you don't want to be based in HK is generally not a good interview tactic, especially to the HK based interviewer. Both jobs are good and the same seniority list. If you want to work for catahy, you want to work for Cathay. If you only want to work for them if you can be based in a certain base, they will probably not feel that you are that commited to being here.

[quote=junior_man;2973987]As a DEFO you can get an LAX base on the freighter.
SO means HKG base. HKG base has some advantages.

Junior_man,

I'm new here. Just wondering what the advantages are of being based in HKG, as opposed to an outside base.

Also, when being posted at an outside base, do you get paid in HKG dollars or US dollars.

Thanks

You get paid in the currency of the country you are based in.

Mayday

Any US based F/O reading this thread? How much money do you make monthly when eveything is added to your pay check? I'm trying to decide how big house payment I can afford. I don't think that I would want to commute for very long once I start with the company.

Cathay pay
 

Fantomen (love the magazine by the way),

Seems the pay is around $5500-$5800 per month depending on you taking the company 'pension' contribution as salary or not. On top of that there's per diem, probably around $500 in a normal flying month I would guess.

Best wishes :cool:

Dumb question, is that $5500 before or after taxes? Thanks

..
 

after..........