Air China info
 

mates....have been sniffing and been asked to interview for Air China(A320/330)(contract stuff) any expats working for this outfit,could you PM me...need to verify pay and working conditions.....normal stuff... PB

Travelled on Air China recently. If you work there you can do some more sniffing. Nice looking girls!!!:E

seems Air China is a stand up place to work.. good place from all i heard.. not to many bad things said about the place..

could be wrong.. but seems all good

Sydney base A330 is SYD-PEK flights only. 3 to 3-1/2 per month is max can be flown. All flights 4 crew; only one expat Captain per crew. Possibility of 4 Chinese on crew + expat Captain if other crew dont speak English, i.e. 4 pilots and 1 radio operator.
Smoking on flight deck is allowed but resting and reading aren't.
7 consecutive days off per month at home base.
US$14k per month with Chinese tax paid on most of it.
No other allowances.
2 year contract renewable.
Accommodation in Beijing is at Air China hotel at airport. Buffet meals (Chinese) provided. No alcohol in hotel and you better be good at eating with sticks.
Staff travel is woeful; max 7 tickets a year and they are subload economy.
Most guys who have committed to A330 contract are Aussie Dragon Air guys which is a pretty good indication of what Dragon/HKG is like.
If you have already embarked on a contract career and are presently out of work but current it would be fine but leaving an established carrier is a much bigger step.

I know a 67 year old local senior captain on the 744 - just what is the age limit requirements in China ? Can you stay on after 60 if you fly domestic only ? I think this is the case in Russia where there is no age limit for retirement provided that you only do domestic routes.

Air China hires directly?
 

Has Air China been hiring directly (Direct Entry Captain), or hired through one of the agencies? Thanks

True, and you better be down for breakfast early, or there won't be any left.

well... well..

and all this time I heard that Air China was a stand up company.. they pay well, the local Aviation authority has good work and rest Regs. plenty of time OFF.. 6 weeks in and 2 weeks out.. along with 7 days off at home base all seems quite good to me really.

curious though.. what is with the 4 man flight deck, and smoking but no reading ??
:ugh:

Its called baseless rumour PozativeR8 ! There is a strict no smoking policy in place

strike 82, all chinese crew smoke in the cockpit. seen it with my own eyes and held cigs from the captain the pretend to join in with the gang so to speak. In fact its almost a bonding exercise and if you don't smoke you don't really fit in. Oh, and your right there is a no smoking policy in place, but it is strictly not applied.

Its just not the case purple head, and to claim that every single pilot in China smokes is frankly unbelievable. Vast majority are ex military flying fighter jets. You cant puff on cigs all day if you are a fighter pilot. Its a physical impossibilty to pull that off

as someone who flies a 737 in china, with many ex military pilots, i think i'm in a possition to say sorry but your wrong. It is a well knowen fact that almost all Chinese pilots smoke. You obviously dont work here.

I work in Taiwan. Well I know it not to be the case that most smoke however dont wish to argue about it all day.