So what about the Hong Kong base for Spring??

b.

Has anyone finished their contract, and received the full bonus money? I believe it should be about now that the first expats started the recruitment at Spring. Just interested.

888
 

Cancelled after CAAC shut down expansion. Try Jet Star HKG....

Then what?
 

Thank you for all the info.
But.. It´s Spring different from the others chinese companies?

Which one has the best human skills if any?

???
 

Hi Cale,

This is a difficult question to answer non subjectively.
Personally I would do a top down assessment, as in, the airline with the least negative comments both public and private is the most likely to have the best approach to dealing with their employees and service providers.

A little back ground on the ops: Spring Airlines seems to be in a different operational league to their competitors as it was formed by very savvy China only tourism industry insiders. This is the only true private airline in the Middle Kingdom and has been challenging the state funded airlines since inception. Equipment and real estate is leased.
Spring Airlines has poached drivers from better funded competitors by paying exorbitant transfer fees for drivers and opted for foreign crews to cover the once needed growth issues.
Needless to say it has created certain animosity in higher circles.
Since, it has formed a huge pool of cadet recruits, trained in the USA with an acceptable English proficiency that makes such poaching of local talent obsolete. The hiring of temporary expat help is now winding down and will be terminated once the momentum created in the lower ranks is acceptable for command. A cadet can move from zero to hero in as little as 2,000 hours cruise time. Until now, expat help provided for some stability in the growth potential while at the same time certain mentorship to the cadets.
The recent growth collapse in the airline expansion has created a huge impact on expectations. Mostly, the until recently pending IPO, now defunct, will determine forward looking challenges. No way to sell shares with no growth and expanding operating costs. Certain routes are being squeezed, others are operating at a loss.
Spring is looking to reinvent itself once again. This is, without a doubt, a great entrepreneurial story. Top management is so, lower is that at best... doing business in China can be anything but business as usual.
Assuming a clean operational and safety record, the next 12-36 months will be very interesting indeed... Spring is boxed. Ribbon placed on top.

Stay tuned!

Hi,
BKK so far is just a rumor to attract foreign pilots. If it happens there would be a long que Starting from those already in Spring. You need at least 1 year in the company as for Osaka and conditions will not be the same as the chinese contract I assume (Osaka diktat again)
Still same old rules (punishments) for QAR's etc. Hotels still not the best.....

Best of luck,

Springa may you explain this??

"At the moment if you sign with the company you make the equivalent of 16000 USD, but you cannot change all foreign currency"

Thanks

I don't understand what are you saying.

They pay you in two parts, one 13000 basic salary, and 3500 for the allowance.
And the thing is that you are only able to convert the 13000, and, what happen with the allowance?

They pay you the allowance in CNY? Or, the banks in Sha are only allowed to convert only the basic salary?

May you go to another bank and convert the CNY to $??

Thanks

Really??

Only able to convert the basic salary... Incredible

And what you have to do with the other money in CNY?

Last question, what about the Bonusses...??? The same as allowance? Or you can convert it?

Really?

No fuel bonus?
No safety bonus?
No loyalty bonus?
No annual bonus?

That's around 40000$/year...

With another Chinese airline but similar situation, we change all our salary on the "black market" (which is more like a usual office downtown), no fee and very reasonable rates.
No problems at all, at least for USD and EUR.
We never even bothered with the official way, even though we get the tax certificates.
Plus you can use your UnionPay card abroad at many ATMs.

For me, it is so easy, let's see

Safety bonus 12.000/year
Travel (reimbursement) 10000/year
Annual Bonus 6000/year
Fuel bonus Aprox 600/month = 7200/year

The amount is 35200/year

Plus
New renewal bonus after 3 years
36000$

That's after three years... around 36000+35000+35000+35000 = 140.000$....

I believe 16.000 every time may be no, but the limit is 11.000$

May be you can send the money with a transfer from Shanghai to your bank anywhere, and take the rest in your pocket

Springa, yes we do, however on our contract our company transfers half our salary in USD to our home country, and only half is paid in RMB.
So we don't bust the 10.000 $/€/£ import declaration limit in our places. We do probably bust the limit for undeclared currency export in China, but no one ever seems to check on that.

In what company are you working Safelife?

Hello guys.
IMHO would be better to stop asking questions about money, change, supposedly breaching tax bank and custom rules and so on. China is a big country, every problem has a solution. That's it. What to know more? Apply, join and ask.
Happy landings.
Joe

Good answer men.

We are here to help each other, not only to complain about everything!!


Happy landings!

Spring ,
I apologize if anyone has found my post disturbing . That said, I can spare your advice about how to use this forum. Maybe you need some.
It isn't wise to write about supposedly illegal acts against the law, be that the PRC law or the country of origin's law. It is also not wise to ask the people about the company they are employed.
This forum is closely watched not only by the good human resource guys that offer nice money for flying shiny A320: it is closely watched also from other kind of good guys.
Anyway, again : there are many options that can solve many problems. In my opinion, nobody is going to explain that to people that are actually outside the middle empire and that haven't started a recruiting process yet.
Just my 2 pennies.
Forgive me if it seems I am not helping on this forum (or maybe I am helping a lot, who knows...)
Happy landings.
Joe

Exactly. We should talk about pilots and airlines, not about custom and other activities that may be found interesting by someone that maybe want to know about taxes and duties, payments, bank transfer and so on.
Enjoy the pool. 😉

Recently joined
 

I am working for Spring now.
For those who would like to join Spring because it is based in shanghai : prepare yourself to stay in Shijiazhuang 4 days then back to base and wear your uniform for another equivalent pattern.

The salary was good ( at least if you are not European , since you will be payed in dollars ) but promised salary increment for pilots who have joined the company 3 - 6 years ago : not happening ; leaves request and flexibility for rosters or personal requests , also in case of very serious problems : zero ( my have been rejected multiple times, more than 10 .... I have given up in the end ) ,

Chinese captains are flying from honquiao and foreign from pudong only , which means an extra “duty” spent in the bus of at least 2 hours per pattern, communication with the company : very poor : either you are on training or released line captain they do not answer your questions ( I tried with foreign office , chief pilot , training ..... they do not know the regulations, often you get different answers and non coherent ) , during the summer prepare yourself to 18 hours duty with delays or more : you fly 2 captains and one first officer with very few landings, often they are unable or not allowed to make even ATC communications but the company uses them to increase the duty, the captain extension of the duty is REQUIRED. instructors professional level and judgement is very poor,

they are very rude and they do not apply even basic procedures , I have been told that nowadays with modern instrumentation it is better to fly with newspaper on the windshields so that you are more fresh at landing. the simulator check is a lottery , mostly foreign pilots do not pass the sim check.


pilots meetings are all about what kind of punishment you will get if you make a mistake , the English level is generally very poor, Chinese captains smoke and sleep in the cockpit , they will touch the FCU even as PM.

Hotels are being improved but still you will find yourself imprisoned with no chance to eat western food in dirty hotel rooms.

So guys : I was working in a professional environment before Spring , and I have to say : for those who like to make some money ( at least in dolllars) at the cost of their professional dignity this can be the right place , but prepare yourself and give me some feedback once you have joined ;)