Summary of U.S. Pilot Salaries

 

Airline pilots salaries vary from airline to airline, country to country. It always also depends on your experience — are you a first-year first officer(F/O)?  Or are you a ten-year captain?  — and also the aircraft you fly: Generally, the bigger the aircraft, the more the first officer and captain are paid.

 

A recent survey by FltOps.com has detailed salaries at major U.S. airlines. “Major” U.S. airlines are defined for purposes of their study as carriers that operate at least 100 aircraft with capacity of 100 passengers or comparable freight. 

 

Keep in mind tht pilots work 72 hours a month at the controls of a plane. This does not include time for flight preparation or overnights or delayed flights). That said, pilots also typically earn more than the following salaries because of international overrides, overtime, special credits and per diems.

 

Here is a brief summary of U.S. pilot salaries:

On average, starting pay for a first officer at U.S. major airlines is $36,283 annually. This is considerably more than starting pay at U.S. regional airlines. On average, captains with 10 or more years of airline experience at major U.S. airlines will have a minimum annual salary of $165,278.

 

FedEx and UPS are the highest in minimum pay: The most experienced captains for those cargo companies will make a minimum of $231,231 annually. The lowest captain’s salary is with JetBlue Airways at $123,480, and the highest minimum captain’s salary is with is at Southwest Airlines with $181,270 a year. Many Southwest pilots also fly more trips than the minimum scheduled, some flying up to the FAA limit of 1,000 hours of flying a year. Their pay is, of course, then, higher.

 

For a first-year first officer, the best pay is with Southwest Airlines: a minimum of $49,572. However, Southwest typically hires more experienced pilots than many of the other airlines.

 

(NOTE: This information is courtesy of FltOps.com)