How much money do airline pilots make?

Answer 1

Av8trxx totally nailed this one. I have been flying at a regional now for 8 years and I make about $70,000/year as a captain in the regional jet. Our top pilots make about $110,000/year and a new hire makes about $21,000/year.

Major airline pilots will start out around $30,000- $45,000/year and top out around $200,000/year. Of course, as always, it depends on what type of airplane and how long you have been there.

Answer 2

Expect to start very low. Last year I made just over $18,000 flying for a regional airline in Milwaukee, WI. I jumped ship to a bigger sompany and now make closer to $25,000. Next year it will be significantly higher and will continue to increase for the remainder of my career up to $150,000+ at some point.

Howeever what most people don't factor in is this: is I have been working in "the industry" for about 5 years prior to receiving my fist airline job. In three years as a flight instructor, another year as a cargo pilot, and my fist year as an airline pilot I netted an average of about $20,000 per year. Thats ok, but I still had to make all my regular payments (rent, car, insurance, phone, etc) plus pay back my student loans.

Long story short: I'm farther in debt 5 years after I graduated college than I was on the day I got my diploma and that's just not right.

Answer 3

In the USA it can be under $20,000/yr (most regional airlines start at around $18K/yr) to over $100K after many years. It totally depends on the specific operator, the pilots tenure and aircraft flown.

That said, according to the Air Line Pilots Association, their "average" major* airline member Captain is 50 years old, with 18 years seniority (tenure) and makes $182,000 a year. A non-major airline Captain is 41 years old with 10 years of seniority and makes $70,000 a year.

The average ALPA First Officer member at a major airline is 43 years old with 10 years of seniority and makes $121,000 per year, while an ALPA non major First Officer is age 35 with 3 years of service and makes $33,000.

To get a totally accurate figure, you would need to apply these variables affecting pilot pay:
~ Time with the company (seniority)
~ Aircraft flown
~ Whether they are a Captain or First Officer (seat)
~ The hours in their monthly schedule
~ The payscale at their specific airline

Answer 4

Depends on what type of airline (regional, national etc), what you're flying (people or cargo) and how long you've been doing it (low timers can barely make ends meet, most instruct to build time). The range is staggering, but expect that greenhorns will make $25-35K to start and will move up once they make captain and pretty much every year. It really depends what you want to do too. If you don't mind being a road dog, you'll live out of hotel rooms but fly more, build more time and make more money faster.

This sounds like a simple question but it has a rather complicated answer.

Answer 5

gotta love somone (below) answering a question with another question .. anyway .. this may help

In 2004, median annual earnings of airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers were $129,250—this means that half earned more than this amount and half earned less.

Median annual earnings of commercial pilots were $53,870 in 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $37,170 and $79,390. The lowest-paid 10 percent earned less than $26,300. The highest-paid 10 percent earned more than $110,070.

Pilots may be paid extra for flying at night or for flying to other countries. Usually, pilots who fly jets earn more than other pilots.

Answer 6

in Australia, Qantas pilots recieve $190 000 a year and low cost carrier pilots recieve about $160 000. The American Airlines are all in debt so you'll receive much less.

Answer 7

Not near enough for the responsibility. But, I honestly don't know any that do it for the money.

Answer 8

it depends

Answer 9

why worry about it''