SpiceJet Questions (India)

[Riker]

I have a good friend originally from India who is looking to return for family reasons. He meets the minimums for SpiceJet (at least he claims to) in terms of hours and he is looking at a couple of the fast-expanding carriers including SpiceJet, Indigo, Kingfisher and a few ohters. He has 737 time (good for SpiceJet) but could probably get on with the others given his flight time and experience.

Can anyone speak to the terms and conditions (QOL, advancement, sectors per day, etc.) at SpiceJet in India? I know it has a new fleet of 737-800s and its route structure is expanding. Anyone have a sense for the place vs. other Indian upstarts as previously mentioned? Yes, we all know the pay is poor - that is expected.

Thanks for any insight on SpiceJet.

Cheers

[Left Wing]

Why Spice and why not Jet..with a chance to upgrade on 777s....

[lucky_strike]

Originally Posted by Left Wing

Why Spice and why not Jet..with a chance to upgrade on 777s....

That is a very valid point you have mentioned , wouldnt that take ages tho to happen considering that there is a lot of seniority in Jet and ones gets considered for the wide bodies and Intl routes only when one has a lot of hours and experience .

Any estimates as to how many pilots in Jet and how long it takes for a newly joined FO to get command - the no of hours and the no of months to get those hours .

And then how much longer for them to be considered for the upgrade to the B777 after that .. when do they get to fly Intl routes ?!?!

They have a couple of A 330 and A 340 , who amongst their population were chosen to fly those and why or did they just get pilots already type rated for the Airbus to do that job .

[Left Wing]

dont forget...QR, EK etc etc will grab all these 777 & 340 capts in due course...turnover rate in jet very high due to this.

[Vimd23]

9W

Hi lucky strike , as far as I know , 1 year in 9w as an F/O on the 737 and a 1000 hrs on type will qualify you for the widebody endorsement. If not , try 3 years and 3000 hrs to command on the 737. We go international ( eg sin , kul ) with 500 hrs on type with ETOPS course completed. Thats the juice. Hope it helps.

cheers
vimd23

[lucky_strike]

Originally Posted by Vimd23

Hi lucky strike , as far as I know , 1 year in 9w as an F/O on the 737 and a 1000 hrs on type will qualify you for the widebody endorsement.

Would one have to pay for the tr on the wide body then ? In that case the move would be from the RHS B737 to the RHS B777 , after 1000 hrs . Right ?

Originally Posted by Vimd23

We go international ( eg sin , kul ) with 500 hrs on type with ETOPS course completed.

Does everyone with the 500 hrs on type get to do the ETOPS course or do they specifically select a few based on some things ?

Is everyone based in Mumbai initially after the training ?

Thanks for your info Vimd

[hpcock]

[quote=lucky_strike;2923454]Would one have to pay for the tr on the wide body then ? In that case the move would be from the RHS B737 to the RHS B777 , after 1000 hrs . Right ?


I think your'e slightly confused on this point Lucky. From over here it looks like you would be considered for the 777, but not have to pay for the endorsement. That would be a touch unethical & a bit bastardly from 9W's stance.

Vimd23 - Pls correct me if I'm also misguided on this point

[Vimd23]

lucky ....

Hey , just to clear the air , hp is right with the reply , regarding SIN , KUL , qualification is a min of 500 hrs + ETOPS course , eligibility is based on seniority , which is not a prob these days as most guys senior are going to the widebody in a 1000hrs. ALL PILOTS , are mumbai based initially until completion of training , ( time period is one year to line , minimum ) , thats how long its taken all batches from Batch 11 onwards on the boeing.

cheers
vimd23

[EAM]

The tread is going a bit OFF Topic now, but how is Jet going with the A330 hirering, specialy for the european based pilots.
I applied two month ago as F/O on A330 and all I received was an email saying " we will contact you shortly".
How many month is "shortly" in India?

[Vimd23]

"JALAN" -- A Lifetime

In India , " shortly " could mean " a life time " , so be prepared to wait. Having said that , I am really surprised that they replied for a F/o's job , ( atleast I dont think that it will happen as there are enough young guys who want to transition from the 737 to the 330 and the 777 as F/O's ) . This is the reason why we are short of Capts on the 737 as most guys are going to the widebody and want to stay on for command . Just my two cents worth.

cheers
vimd23

[EAM]

Thanx for info.
They were looking for F/Os in Flight International, as well WB is looking for about 100 F/O in Germany for 737, there was a big articel in german newspaper.

Even if there are hundert Indians ready to go on 777 or A330, I think there are not many with a few thounds hours on Airbus and you also need some experianced F/O on the fleet.

[Vimd23]

Experience wise ........

Hi EAM , your right about not having F/O's on the fleet with a 1000 hrs in the airbus , but thats not the requirement for JET at the moment. They need you to have 1000 hrs on the 737 to transition and in any case you will be flying with only highly experienced Expat and Indian Capts on the 330/340 as we had them for a year or so. When I say highly experienced Indian Capts , I mean experience in terms of 5000+ hrs PIC on the 737 within India who are gathering experience on the busses.Anyway this is just to clarify.

cheers
vimd23

[EAM]

I was just wondering, because you said, it will not happen that Jet hires Expat F/Os. They were looking for A330 F/Os for european bases in FI, and there was a big articel in a german newspaper, that Jet likes to hire about 100 german pilots o 737. On the other hand its like you say, there are many indian F/Os in training.

Its just seems that it is not running the way they want it and its all a bit strange somethimes.

[sirius3]

Vimd23

Topic was abt spicejet..... anyways FI ads hunting for TRI's n TRE's for jetairways..... just heard that SWIP has ruled out any induction of expat trg capts.... pls correct me. Are ur ac being converted to the PFD/ND versions. When are the 777s expected considering the huge dents made by the other operaters n the losses are amounting.

[Vimd23]

777

The 777's ( 4 in nos ) are expected only next year in June or so. Thats all the gossip on the grapevine .

cheers
vimd23