Regional top out pay

D

Doolittle

Well-Known Member
Would it ever be worth it to stay with a regional long term? I know captains can eventually make over $100k (with SkyWest at least), could dispatchers ever get close to that?

St. George is close to home and I'm just wondering if making a livable wage and being able to eat more than Top Ramen could be a realistic possibility long term.
 
Doolittle said:
Would it ever be worth it to stay with a regional long term? I know captains can eventually make over $100k (with SkyWest at least), could dispatchers ever get close to that?

St. George is close to home and I'm just wondering if making a livable wage and being able to eat more than Top Ramen could be a realistic possibility long term.
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There are a lot of career dispatchers in SGU, I think. Several In ATW as well. It's certainly doable. I have no idea of their pay scale but a lot of regionals top out around $50K-$55K...if you're not in a super expensive location, you can probably buy a house and have something besides Top Ramen in your cupboard. The bigger concern is what the future holds, long-term, for regional airlines, but if I had to put money on a "Survivor: Regional Airlines" competition I think SKYW would be a good choice. Now as far as making $100K...that would not be easy at a regional and would require a LOT of overtime. I would imagine a topped-out dispatcher there could probably make $75K pretty easily with OT though. Current regional airline dispatchers, feel free to update me on my numbers! I haven't been at one for a while now so I'm not familiar with where all the pay scales are at currently.
 
Eh, I'm a 1 year dispatcher at OO. Trust me, you won't be surviving on Ramen. I make a decent living and I don't work much OT because it just gets in the way of all my trades (I travel a lot). As far as being a lifer, there are quite a few here. They all own houses and have a family and are quite happy.
 
After about 15 years and being promoted to coordinator you can make about 70k with a little bit of OT at Republic. Indiana is about as cheap as it gets in the country property wise. Not a bad way to go for some.
 
My soon to be former regional tops at $20, in 10 years. The contract is under negotiation so who knows what the company will approve of. It'll be just shy of $50,000 most likely. If you're not thinking of the majors, go cargo, I think most are paying $45-50K to start and probably top at like 90K. Anyone confirm that rough guess?
 
Mainline_or_bust said:
My soon to be former regional tops at $20, in 10 years. The contract is under negotiation so who knows what the company will approve of. It'll be just shy of $50,000 most likely. If you're not thinking of the majors, go cargo, I think most are paying $45-50K to start and probably top at like 90K. Anyone confirm that rough guess?
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I'm guessing you are speaking of supplemental cargo airlines?
 
Mainline_or_bust said:
Yes, I'm talking pretty much all cargo besides FedEx and UPS.
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I can only speak to Western Global Airlines. They aren't union so there was no pay scale when I was there. They started out at 45K. Not sure if they've gone up since or not.
 
I feel like the supplemental cargo carrier have an unknown ceiling at each company. Probably the only way we would know is if someone with some seniority were to shed some light on the topic.
 
I think supplemental 121 cargo top-outs depend on the area of the country. I know that in the DFW area a few supplementals start out around mid 30k and seem to top out in the ballpark 60k after 10-15 years and potentially higher depending on the person/position. I will say this, I feel as though there is not much room to advance in 121 supplemental cargo and any downturn in business can be quite worrying.

However, depending on the workload it is a good sort of place to learn the ropes.
 
If you can really learn the ropes in the supplementals then I've only been learning the threads at my regional. lol, I would/am taking the risk of business risks over threads any day.
 
Well I can tell you that the supplemental cargo company I work for starts out at $47,600. The top pay is a whole other issue. They posted the top pay at $81,200 but it is a paper salary only. Currently (with the pay raises that we get) it would take a dispatcher 30 years to get to that pay. And that is if the company doesn't move the top salary again. We aren't union and so our salaries are what we have. I will have been with this company 4 years in April and in July we get our raise. I can tell you that I still will not even hit the $50,000 mark. Frustrating.
 
Doolittle said:
Would it ever be worth it to stay with a regional long term? I know captains can eventually make over $100k (with SkyWest at least), could dispatchers ever get close to that?

St. George is close to home and I'm just wondering if making a livable wage and being able to eat more than Top Ramen could be a realistic possibility long term.
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If you're definition of "worth it" is a six digit income, then the answer is no. A top-of-scale line dispatcher, approximately 15 years, is earning around 50K. Pick up a couple of OT shifts a month, and you can supplement your income by 10K or 15K. The only way you'd get close to 100K as a line dispatcher is to work several OT shifts per month, every month. Far more important is the cost of living in the area you work ,and the lifestyle you lead.

If you let your work determine your wage and your wage determine your lifestyle, you'll be just fine.
 
With no state tax Enovy's pay should suit me well before American or Southwest calls my name. Its all about ensuring you have goals and an execution strategy.
 
I heard Republic Holdings shut down one of its certificates ( I believe it was Chautauqua) and is looking at combining the other two (Shuttle and Republic) on to one certificate.
 
Chautauqua wasnt shut down technically. It was just merged into Shuttle first. Now its "Shuttle America 145 and Shuttle America 170"

With that said, yes, the end goal all along was to combine all three into one...whether that be Republic or Shuttle as the sole surviving ticket. That is supposed to be done by this December.

By my calculations that would make Republic (or whichever one survives the last merge) into the second largest regional behind Skywest in the US.
 
CRJInTheHeartOfTexas said:
With no state tax Enovy's pay should suit me well before American or Southwest calls my name. Its all about ensuring you have goals and an execution strategy.
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Gross annual income is one thing, net is another. For example, I live in a state with no state taxes...According to my company, I grossed roughly $34,000 this past year (not a dispatcher, they start a bit higher than me)...yet, after deductions (federal tax, social security, medicare, state unemployment insurance, 401K and health insurance) I walked away with roughly $24,000. So sure, it is definitely how you execute it, but just because there's no state tax doesn't mean it'll be all that helpful. I make things work, but all that ramen gave me a kidney stone a few months ago...
 
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