Starting FO Pay
 

Anyone heard anything about possible starting pay increases for FO's now that the new FAA 1500 hr minimums are in place. I dont see how they can expect to pay some one 1800 a month to fly with these minimums?

Well, not sure, but the 9E guys are getting faced with really low FO longevity increases...

My first year in the RJ I made 34k after taxes.

Guess it depends where you go. Plus everyone is negotiating. Same ol stuff.

Lol...increase in pay? What?

The pay is never gonna change. Watch for it to get even worse as these regionals fight for what are going to be less and less contracts.
This career is being turned into a joke.
Our 5 year FOs at pinnacle may go from making mid 40s to mid 20s with a healthcare plan that would scare you.
They also want us to go to 3 days of recurrent each year for free.

Don't get into this career while you still have a chance.

Dude! You are NOT the norm. In fact I have no clue where you work or how did that your first year. Most first year pay is around 23-25 bucks an hour. Even including per-diem you would have to credit at least 130 hours a month for the whole year to earn that BEFORE taxes. It just doesn't add up. Unless you were a direct entry captain. Which would have nothing to do with this thread.

If you are telling the truth, you are in the 1% of people that got REALLY REALLY lucky. Please elaborate instead of making everyone feel like they are missing out or have done something wrong.

i pulled in 24K my first year and we have a high first year rate

First of all, let me say I wasn't trying to brag or anything.. Or compare myself to other guys. We are all in this game together.

I work for a regional that exclusively flies for one legacy carrier(might give you a clue who). Our first year is $27/hr and change. I was on reserve for 5 months. Our work rules, plus picking up open time allowed me to consistently credit anywhere from 110-140 every month. After reserve, I bid 60-70 hour lines with gaps of days off so I could pick up 2-4 day trips in the gaps. Allowing myself to again earn high per diem along with 120-130 hours of credit. The most days off I had was 7 or 8 each month and would barely scrape by 30/7s.

I'm single, no kids, and do not pull health insurance monthly. I paid cash for uniforms, which cancelled out the monthly deduct. Also, of course, we all know ALPA dues are not paid during apprenticeship.

I blocked 827 hours my first year of work and credited 1,076 hours. Plus roughly $6,300 in per diem.

Just hard work I suppose. I didn't want to be poor. I did my time as an instructor and earned barely enough to survive at one point. Then went corporate and made money, but the guy went broke and the king air/citation went bye bye. Hello pay cuts.

Now I'm another regional FO looking to make it. 1,070 TPIC. Someone wanna hire me? Haha... :)

You work for Air Wisconsin. Including per-diem in pay is misleading to those looking to compare pay rates. You might kill yourself if you work that hard til 65!

Pay and qualifications have nothing to do with each other. Going back to the late 90's, I got hired at AMR Eagle with 2800 TT, 850 turbine and made 17K that year. I think the low time guy in my new hire class had 2200 hours.

It's interesting to hear folks talk about the 1500 hr rule as most don't realize the history of the industry. There was a time when one was lucky to get a job as a CFI with 200-300 hours. Folks would flight instruct until they got at least 1000 hours and then go fly freight, banners, sightseeing tours etc until they had enough time for a regional airline job.

It's all luck. I grossed $32K my first year with ASA, but I never sat reserve and my lines were 90-100 hours every month, and I was junior manned almost every single week. All that plus per diem and 401K match add up pretty quickly.

Had I started 6 months later, I would have barely broken $20K.