Originally Posted by
The Dominican
There is a problem with this theory, the reason why the salary levels abroad is higher in comparison is because of the small supply, situation that has created a steady increase in salary in the 7 years that I have been on the expat market (for the third time
) but the US is still the market around the world that has the biggest supply of experienced pilots living on a lower salary rate because of the bright and visionary idea of separating the pilot groups into two classes...!
Airlines planning to explore the possibility of US bases will have a practically unlimited supply of 8,000+ hour pilots with plenty of jet pic! I believe that the salaries will be in accordance with this reality, if you follow the example of one organization that has done it already, (let me make clear that I have nothing against VA nor it's pilots, my position is based just on numbers) but VA is not paying its A320 pilots what they are paying abroad right? That is the problem that I see, that let's say Air China opens a base in the US and they come in with a salary level that is 40% lower than the 23K net they are paying in China, and they will get inundated with qualified resumes. I honestly don't believe that the introduction of jobs from a foreign carrier based in the US necessarily means that their salary levels will be imported as well, they will offer the salary levels that they know people will accept.
Europe is in a similar boat as the US from my understanding, hence the ability of RyanAir etc. to pay relatively little.
Ultimately I think the payoff for someplace like NAI is not in the ability to pay pilots slightly less (it might even be more), but in the ability to set up their "headquarters" somewhere with low taxes.
A secondary benefit is the ability to pay cabin crew 3rd world wages. On a widebody aircraft, this is a very large savings.
This is bad news for US pilots but not because it's going to drag down salaries (I think it won't). These "new" airlines will be clamoring for qualified pilots. It's simply undercutting the US Airline business model. Taken to it's logical conclusion, as it did in the maritime industry, we would all become basically contract workers to a byzantine network of flag of convenience carriers. We would not necessarily lose pay because of this, but we would certainly lose job security and the benefits of a seniority system.