Working at Air Asia

[justwannafly]

Hi, Im hoping someone can help me out. I currently work on 330s as an FO and am looking at the A320 DEC job at Air Asia.

Can anyone please help me out with some info on working conditions. Days off, hours a day and pay etc.

i know its gonna be hard work, but it is an LCC after all

Thanks in advance for your help.

[justwannafly]

Can anybody help me?

[squarecrow]

this has been done too death allready check out previous posts,
Its a LOCO yes

[jetjockey696]

Btw before you get too excited....


EXPAT FO... NOT needed.. Malaysia government will not issue work permit to EXPAT.. because there are so many MALAYSIAN COMMERCIAL PILOTS waiting to get in. Malaysian government sons and daughters... you get the drift. This situation will last for the next decade..


EXPAT CAPT. Are welcomed...

[justwannafly]

I have searched for info on PPRUNE, Im after the day to day info, like roster patterns, sectors per day. You know, the stuff the family want to know about it.

I understand the FO thing. I am applying for DEC.

Thanks for your help.

[Tankengine]

If you are after DEC then have 1000hrs Command on type!

[justwannafly]

Id be very surprised if anyone with 1000Hrs on type Command would be applying for Air Asia.

[greenpeace98]

Justwannafly, why not??

[safelife]

Because there are much better contracts for those with experience on type. Air Asia's selling point is that they accept FOs as DEC.

[JTF]

No need for PIC time to get DEC position. Just look at the application for confirmation of that. I too have been trying to find out more about the scheduling, but mostly unsuccessfully. What I have found out so far- start in Kuching. Either early morning into the afternoon or early afternoon to late night for your individual days of flying. No overnights. Everyone gets some reserve days each month. Mostly 2 to 4 days of work followed by 2 to 3 days off. 80+ hours of flying per month. Most likely you will get 1000 hours per year.

I haven't been able to determine if the scheduled days are hard days or if they can shift them around. I don't know if they bid on schedules and if they do, how the preferences are awarded. I don't know if they even have monthly schedules. I don't know how they get to choose the vacation days. I don't know if they get any hard days off if they have a more liquid scheduling system. I don't know if you can choose mornings or nights, or if it is random or just asigned. These are definitely good things to know when trying to decide if the job will be a good match for you and your family. Hopefully someone with the answers will let us know.

[Tankengine]

So after a little more than a year you can have the 1000hours on type to look for another job!

[Skindogg]

"So after a little more than a year you can have the 1000hours on type to look for another job!"

If you join Air Asia as a F/O upgrading to Captain, you'll be bonded for at least 3 years, maybe even 5.

[JTF]

3 Year bond if already typed in the 320 and five years if you aren't. Not sure about the amount of the 3 year bond, but the 5 year bond is about $50000 US. It would have to be an great job somewhere else to eat that bond and burn that bridge.

[volare_737]

3 year bond only if you typed and current Captain on the A320. Everybody else 5 years !!! But at least it's a bond. Most other LCC you have to pay up front !!

[MagicCarpet]

JTF,

How accurate do you think the US$50,000 bond figure for non-320-P1-rated guys is? That sounds really high. Can you –or anyone who went to AirAsia as a 320 DEC- confirm the actual figure? Seems to me, a guy could buy his own A320 P1 type for a lot less than that.

Thanks for answers to earlier questions as well.

[JTF]

You can get the type for less than $15000US, but the equivalent of $50000US is the amount of the bond. It is 5 years and I believe that the amount goes down after 3 years, but it is still a significant amount. I got this info from a friend of a friend who is a fairly new DEC who was not type rated before he went. I believe the 50K could also be found in other posts on this message board also- I fully believe the amount is correct at the current time.

The training is at least 4 months long if you aren't typed- lots more training and effort put into the pilots at AirAsia than the contract pilots that get more pay so they have more incentive to keep you around for a while. That said, you are only getting paid your base salary- about 13000 ringgits a month for the training. That is less than half the pay you can expect once you are online getting hourly and segment pay.

Another thing I have heard is that the interview is much more difficult if you are already typed. I believe they worry that since the pay is currently well below many of the contracts available for 320 captains, they will lose pilots too quickly if they don't make a massive bond. They also appear to want pilots who will want to stick around for quite some time since their growth is so big over at least the next decade. Good luck. Please let me know if you find out anything more about how the pilots get scheduled.