Lowest Regional Airline Pilot Salary
- Thread starter coa787
- Start date
LoadMasterC141
Well-Known Member
Right or wrong, flying Turboprops is low end. Piedmont, Colgan, etc....
Mesa is one of the lowest, if not the lowest, paying regionals.
Pay is NOT the most important thing, particularly starting pay. Some regionals pay great but have crappy contracts. Others have ridiculously long upgrade times. Be sure to look at everything in context rather than one single item, like pay.
Check out pay rates and other things at airline pilot central dot com. Don't go near the forums. They eat newbies for an afternoon snack.
Mesa is one of the lowest, if not the lowest, paying regionals.
Pay is NOT the most important thing, particularly starting pay. Some regionals pay great but have crappy contracts. Others have ridiculously long upgrade times. Be sure to look at everything in context rather than one single item, like pay.
Check out pay rates and other things at airline pilot central dot com. Don't go near the forums. They eat newbies for an afternoon snack.
meritflyer
Well-Known Member
Not even close actually. Look at TSA and Pinnacle.
LoadMasterC141
Well-Known Member
oops...yeah. Thanks. OK...MESA seems to be known as one of the worst to work for, and pays bad. At least that is what I get from all the posts here, and reading about them at APC and other places.
Chris_Ford
Well-Known Member
Piedmont's pay ain't that bad either... $26 first year?
Fly4Pay
New Member
According to APC, going STRICTLY by hourly rate, Mesa FOs start at $19, Pinnacle at $21, and TSA at $22.
The "winner" of the title? Great Lakes at $16. Not sure that's such an honor, though...
LoadMasterC141
Well-Known Member
OK I meant...In general. Horizon has, or had maybe, the highest starting pay in the regional industry. Horizon is also known for one of the best contracts, QOL, and payscales in general......
They also have one of the worst upgrade times at 7-8 years, which is a great example of why I believe( I said "I" as in my opinion only) one needs to take everything into account when discussing how "good" a regional is to work for.
I know one pilot, who has blogged his whole 121/135 career, who could no longer stomach the FO longevity at Horizon and left for a street CA position at a certain E170/175 startup. (I am sure Velo has a comment or two about this one hehe)
They also have one of the worst upgrade times at 7-8 years, which is a great example of why I believe( I said "I" as in my opinion only) one needs to take everything into account when discussing how "good" a regional is to work for.
I know one pilot, who has blogged his whole 121/135 career, who could no longer stomach the FO longevity at Horizon and left for a street CA position at a certain E170/175 startup. (I am sure Velo has a comment or two about this one hehe)
meritflyer
Well-Known Member
Wait...
Mesa FO's on the jet earn $22 and some change. Skywest pays an ugly $19. Look at TSA and Pinnacle's year 2 pay and prepare to be grossed out.
meritflyer
Well-Known Member
Whatever helps you sleep better at night.
Snuggle
Well-Known Member
I agree with you there, taking everything into account is important.
Edit: Deleted previous post as I don't want to spin thread off into a different direction.
DeltaAVL
New Member
PositionAndHold
Well-Known Member
Its all gross or ugly, Regional Airlines as a whole need to raise their pay. Just because you work at one with slightly better pay or work rules doesn't mean you're much better or worse off then the other ones. We should all be trying to help the others achieve better pay/QOL/Union.
TP or Jet, 19 pax or 300 hundred, if you go sliding off the end of the runway, I'm pretty sure it'll make CNN.
Like you said, what ever makes you sleep at night.
(Yes I do work at a regional, the same one you do)
Happy New
LoadMasterC141
Well-Known Member
OK...look at the monthly guarantee numbers below that. Whatever it is, use it for a modest estimate; it will tell you exactly how much you will be paid NO MATTER WHAT. Most are 70-75 hours. You can only fly 100 hours a month, so you can only make 25% more, right? Wrong....Now comes the pay for "Extra stuff" which I do not understand very well yet, not being a regional pilot(again, yet!). However, it seems for doing certain off schedule things, governed by each individual contract, one can fly at a higher rate. That is where the percentage comes in.
For now, just put in 100% and the guaranteed number of hours. Then change the calc to whatever rate you want.
If you change bid periods from 1 to 12, you will get an idea of average annual salary. Some airlines, like Xjet I believe, have 13 bid periods a year.
Finally, Per diem is another factor to add in. Not to sure how to calculate that. I just figured around $5k/yr to be modest and that is going off what other regional pilots have mentioned.
I'll say that's wrong.
Piedmont has one of the higher first year pay rates in the industry. As someone has already noted, Horizon has the highest. I'll leave my sarcastic comments out of this.
LoadMasterC141 said:
I don't believe the original question asked about anything except pay. One only needs to search on here to find out who the #####ty regionals are. This question was about pay.