Tesl

Hi everyone,

I've spent the last 5 years living in Tokyo and Hong Kong, and have spent lots of time visiting other countries here too (particularly China, but also Korea / Vietnam / Singapore etc).

I'm still living in Tokyo but very recently became unemployed. I'm looking at beginning training for my fATPL, but my concern is that it seems very difficult to find flight work in Asia in general. Eventually ending up somewhere like Korea Air or one of the China airlines would be absolutely perfect ....... but is there any way to get hired without having a lot of hours under my belt already? Is the only pathway to working in Asia to spend years working in Europe first?

I'm very hesitant to pursue any new career path that would force me to leave Asia ... although I'm quite flexible as to my location here and what type of work I'd be doing at first.

If anyone knows more about what options would be available to me please let me know. I'm flexible for the most part ........ I just really don't want to leave this part of the world =/

Thank you!

The Dominican

You can look into cadet programs such as the one in Cathay and Singapore, but outside of that it is difficult to get hired with little experience unless you are a local and you know the right people, just being a native sometimes is not enough. Good luck to you

fiveninerzero

You don't mention your citizenship/immigration status. Sometimes having the right to work in a country can make or break any deal.

IndyAir Guy

You may want to look at the International Cadet Program at Cathay. Do a lot of research on previous posts and make sure its right for you. Like most things in life its not perfect, thats all I'm going to say about that. If you already live in Asia, pay most of your own bills then it may work for you. Listen to others but make up your own mind.

oicur12

I spent several years at Silkair in Singapore and joined with no jet command time. If you walk in the door with a resume and a suit and tie you will get a job if they have one available.

Also try Tiger or Jetstar in singapore. Jetstar are hiring for sure.

What about HK Airlines in Hong Kong? Have you tried there?

Photon

Was that with our without a type rating?

I currently live in SE Asia with about 1300h tt and 500h turbine/multi-crew.
Looking for something else, as I wasn't planning on doing this for an extensive time (c208 bush flying etc). However it seems like all the operators really want a type rating

edit: not intending to highjack your topic. If you have a residency permit in Hong Kong I would take a look at Cathay as others have stated

oicur12

photon,

I joined MI with type and 4000 hours A320 RHS.

But, they will employ FO's without type and usually some turbine time will do. A friend of mine - now a 320 skipper - was employed with similar experience to what you have.

There is a difference with many airlines such as MI (and I suspect Jetstar/Tiger in SIN are the same) between what they state they require on paper and what they will accept when you walk through the door with a smile and introduce yourself. MI are a quiet achiever - they slowly grow and very few people know about them. And you can go from there into SQ.

I then spent 5 years in HKG. Dont discount Hong Kong Airlines, they are poaching pilots from CX and have much bigger expansion plans than CX. I suspect CX has had its day in the sun as HKA is being used by the mainline to expand routes that mainline carriers cannot - one carrier one route.

Photon

Just walking into a strange office is still rather unfamiliar to me ;p. All my jobs so far have been by the regular application process.
Would love to speak with you on PM or similar about it

oicur12

A lot of these airlines are totally understaffed for backroom functions like employing pilots. When I joined MI, you could email and ring and fax until you were blue in the face, especially as an FO, but when you walked in the door, it was a different story.

PM any time

KoruPilot

Same same at Great Wall. Walked in on a layover in PVG with just shy of advertised requirements and they set up an interview at SQ then and there.

More than a few friends have walked into Hong Kong Express and been offered a job on the spot, no jet time. As oicur12 says, it works.