Will regional pay ever go up?

future pilot

future pilot

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, I am just sitting here thinking to myself. As a future pilot. I have been wondering what people think. Will regional pay ever go back up? because for a brand new pilot i have heard that you make just enough money to scrape by. Tell me what you all think.
 
Doubtful. This industry seems to be about getting to the top by whatever means necessary, then pissing on the people below you. This means the guys at the bottom will never get much consideration. Combined with the fact that people get "Shiny Jet Syndrome" and will actually PAY money to get a job with an airline (Gulfstream), and it is even less likely.
 
hard to say...

I, like a lot of people (not all) who will give you their opinion on this subject have NO IDEA what I am talking about, never worked or a regional and don't really plan to. With that said, as long as the market for pilots is rich, there would have to be a pretty good reason or a company to pay FO's any more as long as they are getting people to sign up for +/-20k yr. If the pool changes, then it could definitely happen.
 
Will the companies be able to afford to pay more somewhere down the road? Probably/Hopefully

Will the pilots see more? No

Will that deter me? Absolutely not.
 
I don't think you'll get anything but cynicism here. Who knows what the market will do but my guess is it will go up slower than the rate of inflation.
 
I went to a presentation awhile back where they were discussing the future of aviation. The presenter had a meeting with a few people from Horizon airlines management the day before the presentation. The management told him that they (horizon airlines) had lots of money in the bank and could afford to pay their pilots more, but "they pilots don't want higher pay." (I know it's management and is pretty much BS but..)

I realize that Horizon is pretty high pay in terms of regional airlines, but I'm doubtful there will be any spike in pay in the near future. Cuz the pilot's don't want higher pay. they get to fly!!!!!! :rolleyes:
 
Pay will go up when the number of qualified pilots sending in applications go down.

This will happen one of a few ways. The first is a rise in the cost of training (see ALPA support of user fees). The higher entry fee and lack of credit will help reduce the number of pilots out there. Those who have the financial resources to get their ratings will probably have or come from a higher income/standard of living situation and look for a similar one when selecting a job. Chances are a $25k a year gig that takes you away from home 16 days a month will cause some of those people to balk. So you have a reduced number of pilots from those who can't and those who won't.

I think the second reduction in the pilot pool will come from legislation requiring a greater number of hours to play in big boy pt. 121 airplanes.
 
Pilots are a very small percentage of costs for airlines. The airlines don't pay more because they don't have to. Remember all you need is 250hrs (commercial) to fly a nice shiny airplane. Even in the last hiring frenzy only a select few companies hired at that and it was few and far between. Golden rule for many airlines is when the applicants run thin, instead of raising pay to attract more well-qualified pilots, all you gotta do is lower the minimum qualifications to get the job. So we end up with a bunch of guys straight out of training or maybe even with a few hours of dual given flying people around.

Not that you need a crap-ton of time to fly safely, either. Plenty of guys can do it well at lower flight times but those who can't or don't care to study and learn on their own time are the ones who can and do slip through the cracks when the minimum experience level is lowered.
 
future pilot said:
Hey guys, I am just sitting here thinking to myself. As a future pilot. I have been wondering what people think. Will regional pay ever go back up? because for a brand new pilot i have heard that you make just enough money to scrape by. Tell me what you all think.
Click to expand...
Will you go to a regional at their current pay scales?

The answer you give (combined with the answers of thousands of other new pilots) should answer the question for you.
 
Clocks said:
Will you go to a regional at their current pay scales?

The answer you give (combined with the answers of thousands of other new pilots) should answer the question for you.
Click to expand...

I'll give you my answer to that question and use a quote from the movie Norbit. "Hell to the no!"
 
Clocks said:
Will you go to a regional at their current pay scales?

The answer you give (combined with the answers of thousands of other new pilots) should answer the question for you.
Click to expand...

:yeahthat:
Best answer so far. It bears the most truth. SJS is like crack. Once you taste it in a cessna, you want the best crack availible.
 
juxtapilot said:
Cuz the pilot's don't want higher pay. they get to fly!!!!!! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Obviousley, Low pay will not stop me from becoming a pilot. You are exactly right "they get to fly" Which alot of people, like me will not give up on their dream jobs just because of low pay.
 
future pilot said:
Obviousley, Low pay will not stop me from becoming a pilot. You are exactly right "they get to fly" Which alot of people, like me will not give up on their dream jobs just because of low pay.
Click to expand...

This would be why we are our own worst enemy... I wouldnt do it for free, where do you draw the line?


As a previous poster said, IMO unless there is something mandated to force airlines to only hire higher time pilots... thus decreasing the pool of possible applicants, pay will never go up. Once hiring picks up again the pilot mills will thrive once again and start spitting out guys with their ratings in 90 days and airlines will snatch them up. But, if an airline is forced to hire only higher time applicants, then sooner or later they will have to increase pay to lure pilots from their current positions.

(BTW I'm not starting a 'higher time guys are better than/equal to/whatever compared to low time guys' flame fest - im still low time, just saying thats the only way I see pay coming up.)
 
It seems that pay scales are not going to increase as long as there is someone willing to do it for less. Right now there are so many people that have lost work that simply need something to do, plus everyone out there instructing looking to upgrade, it will take a while even after an economic recovery to clear this surplus of people looking to work. Not to mention the fact that many airlines have reduced staffing numbers dramatically to reduce costs. I can not imagine that these companies are going to be as quick to get back to normal staffing levels as they were to reduce them.
 
N826AW said:
How does a pilot group negotiate for higher wages when there are 1000 guys willing to do their job for less?
Click to expand...

Don't they do that anyways? I am sure there are 1000 guys that would take half what a 777 captain makes to fly it. Sounds like a cop out. It seems to me like the unions don't really care about this issue. C'mon, 20k a year?
 
Another reason to fight user fee's.

Unless you want to make this a rich kid career so the rich kids can have their parents support them while they are playing airline pilot making 18K a year.
 
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