Cathay Pacific Jobs!!

[PLANECOOK]

Does anyone know any pilot who fly for Emirates or Cathay. I know a friend who has a friend who flies for Cathay and it sound mighty sweet. I personally like the tax free income, 42 vacation days, paid health and dental, travel benefits, and housing provided...... I would like to hear from other cause it sounds like if you got the time and dont mind moving over there it could be a sweet deal. www.cathaypacific.com .

[ScottG]

Oh yeah, that is near the top of my list of dream airlines. I think it is very hard to get in and I know you do cargo first with the passenger option years down the road.

[Murdoughnut]

I wonder if UAE folks are talking about building a wall to keep Americans from taking their good jobs

[BobDDuck]

TyphoonPilot who posts here some times works for one of those. He's pretty happy from the sound of it.

[av8sean]

Getting into Cathay is sort of like trying to get into Stanford... you really need to study your ass, have some hook-ups, and then just pray alot.

[PLANECOOK]

LOL I will pray alot! I guess if you have fly frieght first it cannot be that bad I mean it is a 747.LOL.... But anyways I guess if you got alot of time and you study like crazy and apply a few times a year until your are old and gray you might get in.lol...... Just an option I mean flying in the USA pays crap for the most part.

[taseal]

Originally Posted by av8sean

Getting into Cathay is sort of like trying to get into Stanford... you really need to study your ass, have some hook-ups, and then just pray alot.

LOL, its all theirs then, they can put some of their own pilots then lol

[amorris311]

apply all you want. the oral is what gets most people. they are technical as all get out and that is usually the breaking point for most people. you also must have some kind of contact to get your foot in the door. i know this is true for most airlines but this one is a little more selective. i say go for it. if you get the call good for you. i think it is the second interview when they invite you to hong kong. dont let anything get in the way of your dream. work hard and study hard and one day it will come true. best of luck.

[chris]

If you want to apply for a position as a Second Officer (i.e. relief pilot) on the 747/777/340, their mins are only 1000hrs with ATP writtens; however, to get called for an interview, the bare min seems to be around 2500-3000hrs with turbine time. As a Second Officer, you will be based in Hong Kong, and most people seem to spend 3-4 years as an SO before upgrading to Junior FO on the 777 or 340. You should expect to live in HKG close to 5 years before being able to relocate to USA. As a Second Officer, you will be flying the passenger a/c, not the freighters.

If you apply for a direct entry First Officer, you go to the freighter fleet and can get based in the USA or Canada or Europe. If you're American, you would get based in the USA. If you want to fly for the passenger side, you would have to then move to Hong Kong. The requirements for direct FO are much higher compared to Second Officer.

As others have said, their interview process is very grueling. Probably the toughest in the world. Very technical in nature (you will get asked questions on the 747 and 340, even if you have never touched one in your life). For the first interview, they can conduct this in Canada or USA. For the 2nd, you go to Hong Kong, do a sim eval in a 747, medical, written exams, psych tests, group exercises, etc. You need to know the company inside and out (they ask questions about how much money they made in X year, what awards they won, what cities they serve, etc).

There's all the info you need over on pprune.org forums in the Fragrant Harbour Wannabee section.

If CX is your dream, start reading up on them now. I've been slowly studying for a while, hopefully will interview with them in 1-2 years. I have a good friend who just upgraded from 747 SO to 777 FO and he likes it, despite the fact that he's been in HKG for 4-5 years.

[Screaming_Emu]

Originally Posted by chris

and he likes it, despite the fact that he's been in HKG for 4-5 years.

To me that's all the more reason to like it!

[PLANECOOK]

Originally Posted by chris

If you want to apply for a position as a Second Officer (i.e. relief pilot) on the 747/777/340, their mins are only 1000hrs with ATP writtens; however, to get called for an interview, the bare min seems to be around 2500-3000hrs with turbine time. As a Second Officer, you will be based in Hong Kong, and most people seem to spend 3-4 years as an SO before upgrading to Junior FO on the 777 or 340. You should expect to live in HKG close to 5 years before being able to relocate to USA. As a Second Officer, you will be flying the passenger a/c, not the freighters.

If you apply for a direct entry First Officer, you go to the freighter fleet and can get based in the USA or Canada or Europe. If you're American, you would get based in the USA. If you want to fly for the passenger side, you would have to then move to Hong Kong. The requirements for direct FO are much higher compared to Second Officer.

As others have said, their interview process is very grueling. Probably the toughest in the world. Very technical in nature (you will get asked questions on the 747 and 340, even if you have never touched one in your life). For the first interview, they can conduct this in Canada or USA. For the 2nd, you go to Hong Kong, do a sim eval in a 747, medical, written exams, psych tests, group exercises, etc. You need to know the company inside and out (they ask questions about how much money they made in X year, what awards they won, what cities they serve, etc).

There's all the info you need over on pprune.org forums in the Fragrant Harbour Wannabee section.

If CX is your dream, start reading up on them now. I've been slowly studying for a while, hopefully will interview with them in 1-2 years. I have a good friend who just upgraded from 747 SO to 777 FO and he likes it, despite the fact that he's been in HKG for 4-5 years.

Is your friend that flies for them Alain R?

[chris]

Originally Posted by PLANECOOK

Is your friend that flies for them Alain R?

No, I have never heard of Alain R.

[moxiepilot]

Originally Posted by PLANECOOK

Does anyone know any pilot who fly for Emirates or Cathay. I know a friend who has a friend who flies for Cathay and it sound mighty sweet. .

Not really, but I do have a friend of a friend, who dated her sisters' ex who slept at a holiday inn last night.

[N826AW]

This sounds like such an incredible job. Sounds like it beats the grind of domestic US flying. I visited Hong Kong in November and fell is love. I think I may have to do some more research on Cathay.

[PLANECOOK]

It is a nice job if you can get on and want to stick out out for awhile to get upgraded as an FO. You start as a second officer or cruise pilot depending how you look at it and you fly I was told for 3-4 years then get upgraded to right seat in a "heavy." What made hong kong so great on your trip bro?

[fly8slep]

A friend of a friend flys for CX. You can be put on pax flying right out of training it doesn't have to be cargo if you want to be U.S based. And you can also apply for an FO position you don't have to be a relief officer. It's a good company but very strict, not a fun loving atmosphere, also job consists of flying back and fourth from HK. Still it looks like you have some good opportunities at that airline. On the topic of foreign carriers, I much prefer the Emirates airlines, that's the way flying should be. Too bad they're on the other side of the world, at least they bought the A380

[PLANECOOK]

Im not sure what he min are to apply direct for the FO position but the guy I know applied to Cathay with around 8k hours with most being in a 737 and still had to stick it out in second officers position,but did get upgraded faster than those with less JET time. My understanding from him was if you want to be based in Hong Kong you can fly pax from the start you better have alot of jet time and be will to stay in hong kong. He did mention that you can fly direct FO if u choose hong kong over US bases....

[Baradium]

Originally Posted by Murdoughnut

I wonder if UAE folks are talking about building a wall to keep Americans from taking their good jobs

Did you used to go by a different name?


The foreign carriers already have a severe pilot shortage. They prefer local pilots but many times just don't have them availible. There are some companies (Luftansa for one) that are paying for all flight training for pilots.