Hi everyone, I could really use some honest advice.
I’ve recently passed the psychometric stage for the Flydubai cadet pilot program and will be going for the interview soon. If I get selected, the total cost of the program would be around 750,000 AED.
The starting salary as a second officer is about 22k AED/month, and if performance is good, I can be upgraded to first officer in about 2 years with a salary around 46k AED.
I currently have savings of around 600k AED, and I would need to take a loan for the remaining amount, likely over 5 years.
However, my cousins are strongly advising me against this. They think I should instead do an MBA (possibly from AUS) alongside completing CFA levels and pursue a career in finance.
From what I’ve seen, even reaching 20–25k AED in finance is not easy even with 3 to 5 year experience and the career path seems less structured compared to aviation.
I’m really confused between these two paths:
- Pilot: high upfront cost, but a clear progression and potentially strong earnings
- Finance (MBA + CFA): lower upfront risk but uncertain job market and slower salary growth
If anyone working in finance or aviation (especially in the UAE/Gulf) can share realistic insights about salary progression, job security, and long-term growth, I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.