SIA Cargo - Hiring. CPT/FO
 

Captains on contract or local terms. First Officers on local terms. Singapore.

They've been hiring for quite sometimes.

Anyone know what are the local conditions?

Capt or F/O?

Generally speaking, as an expat on local terms you will be able to just about live, rent somewhere halfway reasonable and pay your Singapore bills - but save nothing. If you have a high maintenance wife and/or children of school age you will find that your salary is quite simply inadequate.

Singapore is a very expensive place to live and recent pay rises have not kept pace with inflation.

Staff travel is not impossible but very difficult due low priority and there is no interline agreement with other airlines. Medical cover is ok for you but very limited for dependents. You will need private health insurance for your family and that is not cheap either. Buying and running a car is extremely expensive. You will also be bonded for 3 or 5 years and you can get caught in the position where you cant afford to stay because of high costs/low salary but neither can you afford to leave because of the bond.

On the plus side, the aircraft is great, routes are good if you can deal with the jet lag and there are a great bunch of guys from a very diverse background to fly with. My advice would be don't come on local terms unless you are single and prepared to not save a dime until you have seen out your bond and moved on. Also remember that the 744 is no longer the gold standard of type ratings. If you want a guaranteed job you need B737, A320 or B777 imho.

Maybe some guys on local terms can expand on the above.

Age limits at SAI Cargo?

I absolutely love SIN and it would be a place I would move my family to, but even on expat terms, the T&C's are substandard in my opinion:ugh:

why join a company that isn't designed to make money?

heard a paycut to come again.

Well if the T&C's are anything like CX's in HK then I think it will be a difficult choice for any reasonably experienced FO / Capt to make. (or easy depending on how you think ;))

If anyone reading this knows anybody who has joined in recent years please do tell!

I know this is not the most trustworthy places for intel, but if anyone knows more info on:

SIA Cargo Training bond
FO approx. salary & allowances
Recruitment process

It would be very much appreciated! Thanks!

(As for living expenses in places like HK and SI anyone who has done a bit of research will know you need a rather decent salary to be able to afford to rent a 2 bed room apartment and own and run a car - let alone money left over to save, or for dependents!)

Training bond when I joined was Sin$142,000 over 5 years. $56k of that had to be put up front as a bank guarantee, and the bank admin charges (front end loaded of course) were another $4k.

FO local salary (no more expat contracts for F/Os I think) Sin$ 10k in a busy month. Significantly less during training.

Recruitment process: Respond to ad, invite to interview. Day 1 is a thorough licence/log book assessment, interview with management and sim ride. Get through that and you can stay for the medical on day 2.

Think twice on local terms. Singapore is very expensive.

Bananasbananas,

Thanks a lot for the info!

I was also wondering whether there are any allowances on the local terms, such as housing allowance, travel concessions etc? (The hiring page just mentions attractive allowances...whatever that means!)

And in your experience what is the career progression like on the cargo fleet? (Time to command etc..)

Again any info is much appreciated.

Local terms are just that - local. No housing allowance, no child education allowance, no annual FOC ticket. Time to command is variable but you will need to be very patient. My guess would be at least 5 years, probably longer.

Latest COE (Certificate of Entitlement) figures released today. It will cost you SIN$ 59421.00 for the right to purchase a car up to 1600cc. Figure on $100K plus to then actually buy the car. Singapore is very expensive.