I think you will find that those BA salaries are in pounds sterling, which changes things significantly in the favor of the European airlines. I think you will also find that the other European numbers are in Euros. Most of the European Legacies pay their first year pilots very well, as compared to the USA. This is particularly true when considering that the average new hire pilot at a legacy in Europe is in their early 20’s. In the US, pilots at that age are at a regional, getting paid pretty much garbage. Although that garbage has gotten better as of late from what I read.

 

I'm from Europe, I lived there for 30 years. I've got a lot of friends flying around the continent for pretty much every airline out there.

Starting salary for most legacies is worse than US regional starting salary right now.
I'm pretty sure KLM is the only one where you can break $60k your first year.
You can hit $60k on almost every regional in the US first year.

Also, don't get me started on training bonds, something almost every European carrier has today.
Ryanair still makes you pay for interview (and training if you pass the interview).

Also - when people talk about widebody pay, you need to remember that widebody is the junior spot in a lot of EU carriers. Plenty of pilots start as CRC or even MPL kind of position in a widebody, then move on to the right seat on a narrowbody. The seniority system isn't like it is in the US. A lot of companies pay the same for narrow- and widebodies. There are some overrides, but often those are not very significant. I've got a lot of friends who moved from WB to NB because they didn't like the lifestyle, and they both pay the same.

You can't really compare US and EU carriers, they are just not the same. And the pay is much, much lower especially if you look at take home numbers in EU, than in the US.

(then again - have 3 kids in college and EU is waaay more affordable, again - different strokes for different folks).

 

Well dera, your statements seem to disagree with this website...
Pilot Jobs Network - Recruitment news for airline pilots and aviation schools which states salaries from many airlines.

... as well as simple google searches which bring up news media articles with salaries from Lufthansa and BA. A simple search of pprune also disagrees with your statements. Not to mention, I also have several friends at both BA and Lufthansa, and they also disagree with your statements. I guess the three of them, along with pprune, the media, and pilotjobsnetowork, could all be lying. Darn fake news. Anyways, no point in arguing. As long as we all can support our families on whatever salaries we earn...is all that matters.

Safe flights, and Happy Holidays

 

The only thing better they have is a ton of vacation time from day one. 30-40 days a year easy.

 

Just an oversight on your behalf Dera

https://careers.ryanair.com/cadets/

 

Captjns, that is definitely a step in the right direction!

 

My offer from easyJet two years ago, as a direct entry captain based in LGW, started at about $145,000 (based on today's conversion rate) and climbed to around $170,000 by year five.

 

So that's what, €120k? Pretty far from 200k.
Need to be more specific with currencies.

 

The point I'm just trying to make is, that Norwegian isn't "crushing" pilot salaries etc. Their compensation seems to be in line with most similar EU carriers.

 

The pay in my contract offer was in British Pounds. Based on the exchange rate of today (December 2, 2018), the contract was worth about $145,000 United States Dollars per year to start, and rising to about $170,000 United States Dollars by year five.