Airline Pilot Salary
How Much Do They Really Make?
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Airline Pilot Salary is a highly searched topic as well as a topic that garners a surprising amount of debate.
Why?
The answer lies somewhere between the dissonance of sites like Indeed.com that suggest a common salary of $78,948 per year for U.S. airline pilots and the actual experience of pilot’s.
Is that an accurate number to expect when YOU become an airline pilot?
Writing to you as an airline pilot, and as a 3rd generation airline pilot, I can tell you that the number above is far below the average you will earn during your career as an airline pilot. You will likely start below that line for your first couple of years, but most pilots surpass that number after 2-4 years.
One of the reasons for this is the way a pilot’s pay is calculated.
How to calculate a pilot’s pay..
Surprisingly enough, most airline pilots are paid hourly!
The rule of thumb to estimate annual income is to multiply the hourly pay rate by 1000.
So for example, if your pay rate is $120/hr, you would have a base estimate of $120,000 per year.
No more than 1000.
According to the Federal Aviation Regulations 14 CFR 121.481 (f) No pilot may fly as a member of a crew more than 1,000 hours during any 12-calendar-month period.
This is a safety limitation to ensure that the pilot is not overworked or fatigued.
Hard Pay vs. Soft Pay
The hourly pay above is considered “hard pay”. Whereas most other income for the pilot is called “soft pay”.
Soft pay comes from a few different places:
Overtime
Retirement and benefits
Per Diem
Deadhead and other non-flying events
(These vary between airlines but are generally similar)
1. Overtime
Overtime is generally offered anywhere from 1.5x the hourly rate up to 3x the hourly rate. Of course it is not always available and every company is different, but overtime allows pilots to earn more than the maximum of 100 hours in a month!
2. Retirement & Benefits
These benefits can increase a pilot’s take-home pay by up to roughly 10-20% depending on the company. Many airlines offer 401k matching and/or profit sharing, as well as health and travel benefits! (TRAVEL BENEFITS!!)
3. Per Diem
This seemingly insignificant amount of hourly pay can make a big difference over the course of a year. Pilot’s earn generally $2-3 per hour whenever they are on duty, meaning every month they will make anywhere from $400-$700 extra. Annually this increases pay by $5k-$8.4k.
4. Deadhead & Other
Like with overtime, a deadhead flight (yes, like Catch Me If You Can!) increases pay without adding to your 100 hour per month/1000 hour per year limitation. Other non-flying events could include recurrent training, online training courses, and vacation/sick pay.
IN CONCLUSION
An airline pilot may make $70,000, $120,000, $280,000 using the traditional equation of hourly rate x 1000. But when you include all of the soft pay listed above it can close to double their annual income! I say this as an airline pilot, whose father is an airline pilot, whose father was an airline pilot.
With this information, the average pay given by Indeed.com is closer to the starting pay in the industry, with the top end at the Major airlines (Delta, AA, United) reaching upwards of $400,000(soft pay included).
Flying for a living is an extremely rewarding endeavor, it is challenging, fun, includes travel and some pretty neat travel benefits. And yes.. it pays well too.
Call us to find out how YOU can begin the journey to the flight deck!
