anyone familiar with Dragonair?

[freddriver20]

European friend of mine told me about this Hong Kong company. The web site wasn't helpful. Anyone know anything about them? He said the total compensation package was very good, one of the best.

 

[bafanguy]

Do forum search over on www.pprune.com

 

[typhoonpilot]

Dragonair is an excellent airline and always ranks in my top 5 of expat airlines to get hired by. They operate A320 and A330s from a Hong Kong base. They fly into mainland China and have recently started branching out with some outward international flying from Hong Kong as well.

I've found them to be a tough nut to crack though. They were my first choice of expat airlines for various reasons when I was looking for work ( Cathay had the recruitment ban at the time ). I speak Mandarin Chinese and have experience flying in the vicinity, yet couldn't get a reply out of them. Physically went to Hong Kong and arranged a meeting with Ann Law, one of their recruitment department people. Even though I had ample qualifications and speak the predominant language of the area they do most of their flying in, they sent me a letter a few weeks later to say I wasn't qualified.

As it turns out, Dragonair flight operations management have a view of the U.S. FAA certificate as a joke that you can easily pick up in a Cracker Jack box. They recruit primarily from Australia and the UK. So unless you have an Australian/NZ or European certificate you can pretty much forget going to work for Dragonair.

They do work you hard over there. One of our guys just went there and I remember him asking a former Dragonair skipper what kind of time off he had. The reply was, "not much".


TP

 

[Spooky 1]

Expat

I rode the jump seat on one of their L1011's back in the very early nineties. The Capt. and the F/O were both from Rawanda. F/O was a woman . who was married to a Cathay F/O The FE was an ex Cathay guy (Aussie). All of them were very professional and I came away as one very impressed guest. They were just getting ready to take their fist A330 at the time. Maybe now that Cathay is taking on some Americans things will open up over there as well. Certainly Cathay would be my first choice of the two simply because of the opportunity to get back to a North American base at some if one chooses.

Good luck!

 

[freddriver20]

As it turns out, Dragonair flight operations management have a view of the U.S. FAA certificate as a joke that you can easily pick up in a Cracker Jack box. They recruit primarily from Australia and the UK. So unless you have an Australian/NZ or European certificate you can pretty much forget going to work for Dragonair.



TP

I find that pretty interesting considering the 'hiring' portion of the website is pretty much recruiting zero time guys to be "cadets" and fly large jet aircraft about a year after their first flight behind a set of controls. Though I guess our military does almost the same thing...

 

[typhoonpilot]

Prejudices never make sense.


TP