Do you know what starting pay is at mainline carriers?

 

Pie in the sky numbers don't really help the discussion. The current range is $20-$40/hr for FOs when it should be around $40-$60/hr. That is a realistic pay scale and would attract plenty of applicants. There is no reason new hires who have taken on loads of debt should start at less than 40K a year.

 

The guys at the majors will never let regional pay go up. They will be offered 10% raises and boom more scope will be sold away.

 

FYI, gzsg = mainline Delta pilot.

 

How do mainline pilots control regional pilot pay? If more scope is sold away how will this help regionals fill classes they can't already fill?

 

The EMB145 costs about $5000.00/hr to operate that number includes fuel, maintenance, and pilots. A typical XJT crew pulls in about $90 /hr for both CA and FO. That is less than 2% of the total cost per hr to fly that aircraft not including management costs. It is beyond belief that increasing pilot pay is an unreasonable request especially given the current environment of record profits in this industry.

Yuma

 

A few points gentlemen....

$80/hr is more than any major airline pilot first year pay, and is more than a majority of regional captains make. This number, as a 1st year pay, is absurd, if for no other reason that it provides a reason for yet another low-cost regional to enter the picture. Somebody will do it for less.

Point the second: if an RJ or ERJ costs $4000-5000 an hour to operate, a few items were left out. MX, crew costs, and fuel are only 3 variables. There are also the costs of other employees that need to be paid, and their salary is drawn from the same revenue sources. Your benefits must be paid (I am willing to bet that your carrier self-insures for health insurance; your "insurance company" simply handles the billing and logistics. When you to the doctor, the portion covered by insurance is actually paid by the carrier); overhead; landing fees; gate leases; your hotel rooms; the various taxes that are paid on your behalf; all of this must come out of that revenue per block hour.

I'm not suggesting regional FO's should not make more. They should, but they won't for as long as people are willing to either enter the industry or re-cycle through if they lose their jobs.

Point the third...As for taking on the debt to get here...nobody forced you to do that. There are ways to avoid that, and there are careers to choose that either don't require it, or offer a great return on the investment in the early years.

I do believe, however, that the day of reckoning for the airlines is near. I have friends that are RJ recruiters, and the situation is dire. But until the cancellations start building up, the majors will not increase the fees that they pay for departure. But...it's coming.

 

I wonder what the average CEO's cut per seat is....

I've said for a long time that crews would do better if they were paid NOTHING by the company and instead passed a tip jar through the cabin. If every pax tipped only $10--far less than a standard 15% tip--the crew would do far better than they do now.

 

And what about the dispatchers? I found out how much dispatchers make for Great Lakes at once point. And you thought piloting was bad.

 

There is only one shot at more money. (Unheard of money)
1. Airlines must remain profitable. (Looking at you Unitard)
2. The purse for funding flight training must remain closed.

Without these two items, (1)capacity or frequency could easily be cut, (2)there are a million kids willing to take out >$100000 loans if banks would still write it. If funding is made available again there will be pilots o'plenty for the whipsaw.