Originally Posted by
AFPirate
The average annual salary for a first officer in his fifth year in 2004 was $95,000, but that fell to $87,000 in 2004 and eroded to $83,000 in 2007, according to Aviation Information Resources Inc.
To offset that, recruiters are offering steep bonuses to draw in new pilots, and some airlines are offering recruiting bonuses as high as $500 for company employees who find new pilots. (FIN)
That's funny.. it seems like in the first paragraph, they must be talking about major airline FOs... no way the average for ALL FOs can be that high.. not with the thosands of us regional dudes earning only $20k. Then the second paragraph is obviously about regionals... but they don't mention that they are two different things (major/regional). Non-pilot readers would construe that as "average FO pay is 83k AND these FOs are being offered steep sign-on bonuses." Still makes us sound like spoiled brats complaining about nothing! and speaking of "steep bonuses"... $2500 is "steep?"