I know pre-911, it wasnt unusual for commercial airline pilots to make alot of money, some up to $300,000 a year. After 911 the industry went down and pilots are getting paid pretty bad. I really want to become a pilot, but only if the industry will pick up. It would be hard for me to justify doing this while starting out making 20 or 30 grand a year when I can pick another career that pays alot more. Any experienced pilots or anyone else who is affiliated with this industry please help out and put in your insight. Thank you
No, it will never be pre 9-11 days again.
The airlines love the slashed salaries, pensions, 401k’s ect…
The less they spend on their employees the happier they are!
They will never pay a pilot 300k a year again.
P.S. You said it would be hard starting out making 20 to 30 grand a year…..starting pilots don’t make 30 a year, try 16-19k a year!
Best of luck to you!!!
No. The reason is the airline industry is a trailing indicator of the state of the economy. That means the industry will pick up once all the economic indicators pick up first.
The airline industry won’t pick up unless the economy does. That’s when people travel more (when they have money to spend). Researchers have already found more people are traveling by air this fall over last year. So, that is a good sign.
Senior pilots are making over $150,000 a year (working for large airlines), while beginner first officers working for small regional airlines (Comair, SkyWest, ExpressJet) are only making $25,000. Once the industry picks up again, pilots for regional airlines will probably making double what they make now.