EZY or CX
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 92
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Anybody knows if after while CX force you to go Hong Kong or you can have a steady base in Europe? And when they tell you which one will be your base?? Is commuting hard or if you are CX pilot you just jump with your company badge on the first flight available with any company?
Regarding a permanent base it depends on a few things, obviously you have to be on an aircraft that flies to the base. So let’s take London as an example - First you have to be a Relief qualified FO to take a base. The main vacancies in Europe are on the 400. You would have to first do your time as an SO (approx 3 years) then upgrade to JFO. Cathay do not upgrade SO's to the 400 so you would have to do a few years on the 777 or the Airbus before you could go back onto the 400. Chances are much harder of going back if you have been upgraded as a JFO on the Airbus... Actually I feel that the chances of getting back as an FO on the 400 nowadays are very slim. This is because now after 3 years the Freighter FO's become eligible to move to the 400 passenger fleet. These guys seem to be replacing those that are leaving for Command, so there is no significant void for FO's on the 400 at present so there is not a need for guys to be taken off the 777 or Airbus. You can play a 'Joker' which entitles you to one type change in your CX career to take a base but there is a lot of red tape and not many jokers are awarded each year. Also at the moment we have a lot of 777's arriving and on order so the company are not keen to lose FO's off that fleet.
You could do your upgrade as JFO onto the Airbus and that does have a small amount of vacancies in Europe but competition is fierce and you will be up against more senior guys wanting a base.
If you want a base in Europe on the passenger fleet it would, in my opinion take you about 5 years from date of joining. However you could as an SO bid to go across to the freighter fleet as an FO based in Europe but the pay is a lot lower than a pax FO and the rosters are much worse - I would be very careful before going down that route.
On the brighter side in a few years the 777 ER's will be doing most of the European routes anyway so if you’re an FO on that you could take a base when they arise.
There are also many changes to our rostering practice going on right now and in the days of old you got a minimum of 5 days off after a LON-HKG-LON pattern - Nowadays it can be just 2 or 3 which makes the job real hard. When the new rostering practices come in I think it could be quite interesting!
Hong Kong can be a great place to live, hell CX will even pay your mortgage for you out here but if you don't get on with the heavy population and pollution then trust me it can very quickly become a seriously lonely place.
After all the years on your base if you want to stay on the passenger fleet then you have to go back to HK.
I tried to commute on staff travel, nowadays ALL European flights are at capacity, so you will suffer a lot of stress getting on. All staff boarding is based on seniority so as a new joiner you will have a much lower chance of getting on. Cathays Staff travel treatment is world famous for how badly you are treated so that is all I need to say about that!
If you want to stay home then I would take EZY
