Vietnam Airlines, Ho Chi Min.

[doggydog]

Hello everyone, and happy Australia Day. Could anyone here care to let us know what its like working for Vietnam Airlines and what living in Ho Chi Min city(Saigon) is like regarding people, cost of living(rent), food, lifestyle etc Any info is sincerely appreciated
The dog...

[alatnariver]

I used to fly for Vietnam Airlines, a couple of years back, not that long.
Living in SGN is very interesting and can be a lot of fun. Nice places to hang around, good food - well if you like asian food, if not, well... - nice people in general and if you are from Oz, not too far away from home. Not to mention the girls !
There are a lot of expat pilots flying for Vietnam Airlines and there are much more other expats working and living in SGN. So you can expect a more or less vibrant expat live.
The cost of living used to be rather cheap, but renting is more on the expensive side if you are looking for somthing western style. The realestate agents and landlords are in the know that expats have "some" money to spent for their accomodation. But in general the normal housing allowance for a pilot should be enough to cover the costs of accomodation in SGN, well at least it used to be two years ago. Finding the right place might take some time.
Flying wise well, it's Vietnam Airlines and a lot depends of course which type you are operating. There used to be, and still are, some short comings. In general the working atmosphere, also with the local pilots, was very relaxed and good. Just don't expect any well organzied western style top-notch airline! They are trying, but they can't buy everything, even if they wish they could. Regarding the local pilots, some are very good and some not. The bandwidth is just much biger than in any "normal" run western style airline.
It's not career if you are looking for something like this and it will stay a contract job nothing more nothing less.
So if you are "in between jobs" have a closer look at it, if you are leaving a stable outfit for whatsoever reason, just don't do it, as it is a contract job and nothing for a career. Don't belive the upgrade stories, as you never know!
I spent one year there and looking back I describe it as an interesting time, when I am asked about it. After a while I got fed up with the airline but the rest was realy worth it !

[Dream Land]

I agree with most of the previous post, they have just recently upgraded five Airbus F/O's that paid for their own training. If you've done contract work before, it will be no problem for you, commuting to Australia very easy, schooling for children very expensive.

Traffic and air quality is bad, housing is OK as previously mentioned.

[Fly A380]

Transport & going Home.

Hey,

Thanks for the info. I was looking into possibly working for VAC as well.

I just wanted to know, how did you get to work everyday? I have the VAC brief that they send you, but I realized that they did not mention any method of transport to work within it. Do they have some sort of bus system? Or did you take some sort of taxi on a daily basis of your own accord?

Did you recommend getting a car there or as an expat; or is it simply to strange and overwhelming to drive in Vietnam?

How about if you live in a country which VAC does not fly to? Are you expected to get your own tickets to fly there? Or will VAC provide you with some sort of setup for your 2 weeks OFF that they guarantee after 6 weeks of work?

Thanks again alatnariver.

[olepilot]

1. buy a motorbike or take a taxi
2. can drive but most buy a bike
3. u get a tkt on vac network and ev. cnx u fix yourself

[Dream Land]

some sort of setup for your 2 weeks OFF that they guarantee after 6 weeks of work?

Not quite sure what you mean by setup, the contract is very straight forward, six weeks on, two weeks off, no travel days because you may have a long commute, your first day of work may be a 6AM departure, if you need recovery time, come back early, anyway there are probably quite a few people that live outside the VAC network, they must pay their own way. They are very flexible with the days off, for instance you could take only one week off and stay around, then on the next rotation get three weeks off.
Cars are useless here due to too the heavy traffic and lack of parking, a small motorbike does fine.

[alatnariver]

I agree with what was said before!

In the good ol' days when the Airbus rostering was done by Mr. Dat, by the way the most effective rostering person I met in my career so far , we had travel days planned, even if those days were not part of our contracts. At least they are still flexible in respect to split, float or what ever you'd like to be done with you rotation days.

Regarding transport I used taxis most of the time. Was cheap, airconditioned and a bit safer than a bike. Main reason was that I am scared of riding a bike, so I never could have stayed longer in SGN, as you need to be bikeable.

[Check 'Six']

HI everyone.

As a TRI on the A330, the salary advertised is 14000 US. I would be coming alone and the family back home in Europe. The cost of a hotel (Four or Five Star) compared to an apartment?

Eating out and entertainment whilst there, equates to what cost my friends?

Basically a normal life of eating out, having a few beers going to the gym or lying at the pool on a day off. What sort of money am I pocketing at the end of the month?

Loss of license? How much?

Any idea how long the average contracts are? How long have the veterans been there?

ID 90 on other airlines possible? (IATA)

Thanks for any of the above info being passed on.

Check Six

[kontur]

Hi. Check `Six`!
Some answers to your questions
Basically a normal life of eating out, having a few beers going to the gym or lying at the pool on a day off. What sort of money am I pocketing at the end of the month? -Live is cheap,so you can pocket some money.
Loss of license? How much? -NO(However it depends on the recruting agency)
Any idea how long the average contracts are? How long have the veterans been there? - I knew one pilot who had spent there about 14 years.Now he decided to move to another airline
ID 90 on other airlines possible? (IATA)- NO!
BRGDS

[Check 'Six']

Thanks Kontur. Nice working environment? Friendly?

Average hours on 330 per month?

Overtime?

[kontur]

HI!
The working environment is very friendly,staff is very polite and nice. The only problem is a lot of mess in the roster I mean a lot of changes and no one can plan his free time in advance.
I don`t know current situation in the 330 fleet,but TRE(TRI) are very busy at this particular moment. But I do hope you will have not more then 65 hours.Many flights are domestic and there are some mid range(5 hrs)sectors(Koria,Japan)
BRGDS

[sam34]

Hello everybody!
Does anyone know about the recruitment of pilots for Vietnam airlines please?

I know VNA recruit a lot of cadet pilots but there are different nationalities in the company too...
And my father is vietnamese but I do not have the vietnamese nationality because I am borned in France, so I am french of course.
I am going to call VNA as soon as I can, it is not easy because of the differents hours between France/Vietnam...

I am still a student pilot I passed the theory of ATPL and I am doing hours building in the south of France. Then I am going to do the CPL/IR in a few months.

Thank You very much for your help!

Sam34

[Dream Land]

VietNam Airlines, NEEDS a lot of cadets, actual recruitment is approved by the government, well below what is needed.
As a French citizen, I believe as soon as you have 1500 hours in the B777, A330, A321/320 or ATR72 will be a viable candidate.

[Arty Craft]

Hi, guys,
I need the contact details for HR at Vietnam Airlines. Unfortunately their website is down for maintenance for the next few months. Thanks.

[Dream Land]

HR Vietnam Airlines = http://www.rishworthaviation.com/ and http://www.parcaviation.aero/
Foreigners are on contract basis only.

[Arty Craft]

Thanks for the info, Dream Land.

[sam34]

Arrf no i do not have 1500 hours on B777 etc...
thanks Dream Land

[Plutos]

Schools in Vietnam

Hi, Alatnariver
I was reading your interesting mail about living and working with Vietnam Airline.
It seems a good and young airline with all the positive and negative points of a fast growing airline.
As I may consider to move there with my family (2 kids) I wonder if there are any French schools for expat in SGN.
I am Italian but I lived 15 Years in France and although we are living in Italy my children are attending a french school.
There is another question before I make up my mind.
Is there any possibility to upgrade from the A320 to A330?Or I will fly for the next 10 years on the same plane.
I see the salary in VA is at least 1000$ less then here, so my change must be very mindful.
tks

[alatnariver]

Hi Plutos,

my advise if you are on a fixed contract be vary carefull to give it up. This is my personal and general advise, I would never change a firm contract for a contract job.

I am not sure if there are frensh schools in SGN but I think so.

Keep in mind that schooling seems to be very expensive and there is no education allowance offered with any of the contracts. So you will have to spent a lot of money and if you take home less than in your current job, I don't know if this is a good idea.

You should make sure that your family will like SGN and Vietnam. It's different to live in a country compared to go there on a trip.

Regarding a type upgrade, well they did it but you should better not count on it!

[Ready]

For months and months now they have been, through agencies as usual, looking for A330 TREs/TRIs only. How about line captains any time soon?