Air Japan (AJX) B767

[Esprit6969]

Noodleair,

Is the Home Depot not hiring? IMHO that is by far a better opportunity.:-) Well..you've been warned, what once was a pretty decent job has turned to sheet. All the contracts through the various agencies are the same. I would not use CReW however, as they are in bed with ANA and will not lookout for your best interests. Come to think of it, I guess none of them will.

[The Dominican]

Any of you guys flying for Air Japan, how many expat pilots are flying there?
Nationalities?
I am considering applying for their post because of the Honolulu commuting, so would be nice to know these details.
Also, any direct contact info for the hiring? Or should everyone go through Parc?
Thanks in advance

Our pilot group is composed by Aussies and Kiwis (our largest pilot group) guys from the US. (now our second largest and the one with the most attrition) pilots from several countries within the EU that added together form our third group, then a handful of guys from Latin America, Asia, the former eastern block and literally a couple of Japanese contract pilots. Management pilots are all retired or active mainline ANA pilots.

There is no way to apply directly, you must go with an agency, PARC, CREW, IAC global. The contract is basically the same for all 3 but there are a few differences. CREW has better medical insurance for guys living in the US, PARC in the other hand has better unemployment insurance and a bit more organized for what I gather from the guys that are with CREW, but PARC although I think service wise is better, their medical insurance in the US leaves a lot to be desired.

[alkor]

hi,

How many FOs are needed at AJX?

Any info about longreach aviation recruiter?

Cheers,
a

[jrmyl]

AJX's fleet is comprised of ANA airplanes. We do not have our own aircraft. We use ANA planes to fly the flights that ANA gives to us. There are only four flights that we use the Air Japan call sign on, to/from Incheon and to/from Singapore. All others we use All Nippon. The latest that I have heard is that we are losing flights due to not having enough pilots to fly them. The BKK passenger flight is one example.

As far as Europeans that are here, I know of at least one Italian and another pilot that lives in Italy. Various other nationalities from Europe as well.

To address which agency is the best, I have no idea. I am US based and am through Crew. I have no major complaints with them now that I am working there. During the application process I have heard of some people waiting for long periods of time to hear from them. I get paid on time every time and the pay is correct. When I email the office I get an answer within a day. When my wife had to get ahold of me in an emergency they went out of their way to help her. So no real complaints from me regarding Crew.

[NoodleAir]

Is that GPSCREW or other?

[The Dominican]

@NoddleAir
That is Crew Resources Worldwide based in HNL.

As far as the commute goes it seems that the rule of thumb is the same regardless of where to commute to, easy one sector commutes with many options daily=ZED tickets, more than one sector with not too many daily flights=business class and busy holiday season (christmas, golden week, that sort of thing)=business class.

@alkor

I don't think that longreach has carried this contract very long so I don't know anybody that has been hired through them, that is not to say that there aren't any, I just haven't heard about it. What agency are you with is just not a topic that comes up at cruise, sorry.

[jrmyl]

If you give 90 days notice on the Crew contract there is no penalty. Shorter than that and you pay a penalty. Not sure what it is as I don't have my contract with me here in the hotel.

Dom should know about the Parc contract.

[Esprit6969]

To break the contract (apparently it costs them nothing to do it) it will cost you 15k. Unless you give them 90 days notice. Many people have left without the 90 days notice with no reprocussions. Just give them the 90 days and call in sick to get around it.

[WJAPilot]

90 days no penalty ... Even after a type rating is provided?Assuming you were accepted NTR and then type rated.


It's not my intention to do so I was just curious what would happen should one have a family emergency etc... That would otherwise affect the ability of one to complete the contract.


WJP

[Fratemate]

I know it's stating the obvious, but you'll lose your completion bonus, in total, as well. You do not get anything for the time served if you don't complete the contract.

In the case of family emergencies etc, then I'm sure it'll come down to you, the agency and AJX to discuss it and agree mutual terms. They are not totally unfeeling robots (just robots ) and they have been flexible in the past for unavoidable situations such as you suggest. I feel confident they'd waive certain requirements if these things arose. Don't expect to keep the completion bonus though.

[Captain_Said]

Are there any pilots from Russia ?? I have a problems with calculating cross country hours !!
can somebody help ?

[oldhasbeen]

if there aren't ,somebodies been pulling the wool over the yanks eyes for 50 years

[PoinDextir]

Have to go with the majority on this. This place has gone downhill so fast, the momentum has become unstoppable. Almost all of those pilots here who have options have exercised those or are about to. The USA furloughed Major Airline guys will all be gone within the next 6 -10 months. The Aussies are all looking to go back closer to home and the European guys are looking at other contracts as well. Those who chose to stay are doing so because they have NO other option a this time. This job will put all of us into an early grave with the schedules that are being flown. I've seen guys go from looking their age to looking 10 years older within an 18 month period of time. This is simply put - suicide. If the schedules don't kill you, making a mistake while incredibly fatigued at 3am will. It is only a matter of time... Why do most of us still put up with this crap - MONEY. The money is good. Plain and simple, but it does come at a cost.

How much is your life worth? I'm not hanging out much longer to find out.
All those left will be flying even more cargo as myself and others hit the road later this summer.

-DEX

[Martin VanNostrum]

Yes sometimes the monthly rosters are a little hard with the night flights. But most airlines flying international fly also at night. Yes the money is not bad, and gets better each year. Where else in the contract world do you get the chance of a wide body command after 3-4 years? Do you have to put in the work to prove you are entitled to it? Yes. Do some people fail? Yes. Do the majority make it? Yes. If you have a good job with prospects in your own country then why not stay. If not, this is pretty good. It's what you make of it. Lots of talk of people leaving in masses to return to nirvana but they are still here. Again it's what you make of it.

[The Dominican]

Those who chose to stay are doing so because they have NO other option a this time.

Well, I gues I'm the exception to this rule, as my contract was coming up I did some exploratory applications to see what was out there, I spoke to other guys working those contracts and as much as our QOL has decreased since the merger, I found that in other contracts out there (specifically 777 gigs) had the same type of flying that we are doing now and the commuting conditions were substandard (6 on 2 of type of schedules) they are flying a LOT more than we are with constant changes to their rosters, the only place I found that had somewhat good commuting conditions is KAL, and the QOL is worst there than it is here by a factor of 10, not withstanding that the pay is also lower, I think that saying that there aren't any other options out there is a gross understatement because there are a lot of places hiring right now but for what I have seen it is more of the same that we are experiencing here. I don't think that there is any doubt that as an ex pat, one would look for an eventual opportunity to go back to your soil regardless of how good or bad your working conditions may be.

[blacksmoke]

Been having a look at this again, but I have a question for the Australians there. How does the salary work out once Japanese and Australian taxes have been taken out? What's an average after tax pay packet? I realise everyone's circumstances are different, but just rough figures would be helpful.

[pigdriver]

I think you will find most ozzies with air japan are not paying taxes anywhere!!
With the dollar as strong as it currently is they can't afford to pay tax as well.....
When the taxman finally catches up with these guys ( and he will) it will be very expensive....

[The Dominican]

Taxes

This is a commuting contract and there is no recidency in Japan, therefore you have no tax liability locally, each contracted pilot is responsible for the taxes in their own country.

[737lpa]

DEC

Hello to all the pro's that have been commited to this post thru the years (Dominicano, Fratemate, Martin Vannostrum, crj,...), sorting out the inside of this gig.

I considered this job a couple of years ago but backed out at the last minute and did not follow up to not waste my bullets. Now I'm on the lookout again (I can't believe I've been in RYR for 8 years now)

I've read the ups and downs you guys went thru with the merger. Also saw the 2 extra commuting days which is good news. Still think the money is good. My only fear is going thru the 7-8 month training to then fail it, or be offered an F/O position.

What do you guys think of the options nowdays for a RYR driver with 10,000 TT / 5,000 PIC on the B738 to get a DEC?

Parc seems excited but I don't really know how the recruitment drive and/or the need is at the moment for Captains.

Good to hear from all of you's.

[PoinDextir]

737lpa

Dear 737lpa,

The reason we are so excited to have you join as a Direct Entry Captain is because the last 3 DEC's that joined AJX are all unemployed now. Every SINLGE one of them FAILED the training. They were each unceremoniously FIRED and gave up good jobs to start at this wonderful airline. If you would like to give up 9 months of your life, leave a good paying job for an ****ty one, then PROBABLY be FIRED for FAILING training, please continue the application process. Good luck.

Parc Aviation Management



To all you thinking of coming here - these are the FACTS!