Originally Posted by David Puddy

NAI is high profile because it is intent on competing on the lucrative transatlantic routes. But what about Neelmen's Azul Airlines down in Brazil (flying A330s from São Paulo to MCO, FLL and JFK I believe) or TACA from Latin America or the various Chinese airlines flying 777s or 787s to the States? They all pay their local pilots SQUAT!!!!! Super low pay relative to US Legacy pilots....

And yet NAI is the one highlighted constantly because it threatens to lower average airfares on lucrative routes to/from Europe... I bet that NAI will have to eventually raise pay in order to attract more pilots if their growth continues - but nobody should expect US Legacy pay levels (ie $300K for a Delta 767/777/A330 Captain). I think Virgin Atlantic 787/744/A330 Captains make barely half that amount and their taxes are 50-60%. And since Delta owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic, should Delta pilots be concerned that their VS counterparts are paid so much less for widebody flying to the U.S.? I never hear about it.

I am not defending them, but NAI gets all the bad press because it's model appears to be working with efficient Dreamliners and it is a big threat to entrenched U.S. and European legacies... It is easy to forget that point. Relative to other foreign airlines serving the U.S. like Azul or Avianca, NAI probably pays its pilots better. It's all RELATIVE....Why no yelling at Azul's very low A330 rates?????