Commercial Pilot's pay to increase?

Question

I'm currently in grade 11 and I've wanted to be a Airline Pilot as long as I can remember. However, I've started to read about the starting pay being $20,000-30,000, which sounds very bad. I was thinking that the baby boomers retiring throughout the next 5 years would create a demand for pilots and hopefully a higher salary.

If any pilots out there could give me any information or opinions I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

Answer 1

I am not a private pilot yet but like you I plan on becoming a commercial pilot and I would think that due to the rise in fuel inflation I would say pay will probably go down however on the bright side this means there is an opening for aircraft manufacturers to build airplanes that use less gas or an alternative fuel altogether thus bringing the pay back up

Answer 2

There are opportunities for pilots outside of the airlines. There are pilots making $75 to $100k as first officers in private jets (not all of them, I've done it, though, as a type rated Co-Captain), and making $80k to as much as $200k in the left seat, with $85k to 150k not uncommon, depending on aircraft type and employer. And in many cases flying relatively light schedules. So many of you on YA keep talking about being "airline pilots". To each his or her own. But the better private jet gigs will require you to have significantly more than the minimal certificates and hours now required by the non-selective regional airlines. As for airline pilot demand, some of the near term demand will be offset by the recent age 65 retirement age enactment, but overall the regionals will continue to hire, as well as at least a couple of the legacy carriers. But the regionals are the lowest paying stratum, whether new hire or Captain, and not on my wish list.

Answer 3

Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is correct: starting pay is low compared to many other professions. As you gain seniority with a company, the pay rises, but it very much depends on the type of plane you fly. The bottom line is that the more seats it has, the more you will get paid. However, if you have to switch companies for whatever reason, you often have to start near the bottom of the pay scale at the new company. For example, I started flying professionally 22 years ago. In that time I have been permanently laid off three times (never fired) and spent nearly 6 years total unemployed as a pilot. The last time I got laid off the company went out of business so  I had to go from being a captain back to a junior copilot with a new company, making only $30k per year. This is not much for someone with my experience, but it was the best I could get without selling my house, uprooting my family, and moving to where there were better paying jobs. Besides that, my wife has a good job, so for her to quit and start over somewhere else too did not make any financial sense. In about 3 years I may see $50k again, but I will probably never see a six-digit income before I retire. In the mean time an assistant manager at McDonalds makes more money and gets more paid time off than I do. Sad but true.  While not everyone's experience is like this, it is not uncommon either. You might want to rethink your career choice if money is what is most important to you.

Answer 4

Interesting question.  Starting pay has not increased substantially in the last 10 years.  As the demand has increased for pilots, the pay has not.  Instead, the basic experience requirements have decreased to allow more people to qualify for these jobs.

Airlines have what's basically a fixed budget for staffing.  The easiest way to increase the starting pay is to redistribute the pay throughout the airlines, meaning shave some off the top and add it to the bottom.  I can't see this happening anytime soon.  Airline pilots are almost always represented by unions.  The voting members of the unions are mostly past their first year.  They all had to "suffer" the incredibly low starting pay and they shouldn't be expected to want to sacrifice some of their current pay to help the new people.

The only other way to raise the pay is to charge more for tickets.  This is a touchy area as well, because airlines have cut costs so low that the public would expect more service for a higher ticket price.  In reality, the higher ticket price would barely cover the increased cost of fuel, let alone pay raises.

Answer 5

Starting pay is always bad at an airline.  It's called probationary pay, and the first year is a test to see if you really want to work there.  Also, smaller airlines pay less because they take the least experienced pilots.  That will probably never change.  If you are lucky and good enough to get a job at a good airline or cargo company, then you will make substantially more.  

If you are in it for the money, I would suggest a different career.  Air traffic controllers make a lot, get gov't benefits, and get to go home every night.  I know many pilots who would have done that if they had it to do over again.  It's a tough career, but if you love flying, it's like no other.  Of course, you can always buy a plane if you get a better job.  I personally don't think the demand will ever help to increase wages.  More likely, if nobody will do the job, the airlines will hire from overseas.  They always seem to be able to find someone who will fly for less.

Good luck.

Answer 6

You can count on starting pay to remain about the same. The situation in the airline industry now, and for quite a while, is that there are simply too many passenger seats flying for anybody to make any money. So over the next several years you will see airlines continue to merge and consolidate routes which will mean fewer aircraft and therefore fewer pilot jobs. Additionally some of the larger airlines which can't control costs compared to the Southwests of the world, will simply go belly up. This has to happen if the industry is to survive in a viable form.

So regardless of retirements, because aircraft will retire as well, you'll not likely see any upward pressure on pilot salaries. If anything, they  to have to come down on the whole. Other than fuel, labor costs are the largest costs for an airline. And since you can't cut how much fuel you use guess which way salaries will be pressured.