You can't think of the wings as being symbolic of an aviation achievement, like you probably do of military wings.

Instead, they're simply symbolic of your employment at a particular shop. When you are given them varies between where you work.

At the regional airline I worked at, I was given the wings unceremoniously by my the examiner after my LOE simulator session at the very end of training.

At the major I work at, I was given them after only a few weeks of non-flying indoctrination training (basically still at the beginning of training -- I hadn't even see the inside of a simulator yet) in a fancy-ish formal ceremony that family/friends are invited to attend.

Overall, it is simply a uniform item that socially has less value and meaning than in the military.