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The profession of Air Transport Pilot is one of the best considered within both the job market and social context. To become a pilot involves a highly specialized training which implies having specific skills and aptitudes that provide them social prestige and respect.
Being a pilot isn’t just moving a plane from point to point. Being a pilot means, besides a way of life (always carrying a suitcase and working in shifts with no public holidays) a great responsibility over the machine he/she is operating as well as on the load transported in the cargo compartments but, above all, on the passengers on board. For all this, it is a profession with a great economic future despite the initial effort the price of the airline transport pilot course implies.
In Spain, the salary of an airplane pilot is one of the most criticized by society that justifies it only when an incident or accident ocurrs with no more loose than a crashed plane. However, that wage is not the same for all of them. Depending on factors such as seniority, company or rank, the money perceived at the end of the month can vary quite a lot. Not to mention that, often, until they find their place in the sector, they must work with wage conditions far from those expected in order to keep their license alive without cost.
Thus, the average salary for a brand new copilot is around €12,000 a year and will raise as he/she acquires seniority up to about €50,000, before becoming commander. The average salary of a commander in Spain will be around €80,000. To these amounts different concepts must be added that raise the base salary. These concepts might be different in each company.
Worldwide, the average salary of a plane pilot in foreign airlines is much higher than in Spain, being about 12,700€ per month for commanders. This figure is nearly halved for copilots and even more if their career is just beginning. However, as we have already said, this varies quite a lot depending on the country, company, rank or seniority.
A pilot’s salary is not established on the national or international flights performed but on the hours flown per month. These are set by the Aviation Authority in monthly, quarterly and annual maximums. The only difference in remuneration between domestic and international flights is the travel allowance, which will be slightly higher for the latter.
The payroll of flight workers is often quite complex as it consists of fixed and variable concepts which make the remuneration not the same every month. Salary tables are divided into levels that are exceeded by seniority, with a time established for each level before getting onto the next. Thus, a new pilot will enter, talking about Iberia, in level 11 and will reach 1D in the last years of his/her career. These levels mark the amount to get for some concepts such as additional hours. Each company establishes a minimum of guaranteed hours from which each additional one is paid at a price according to the salary level. This hour price may range from 1.5€/h for the lowest level to 50€ in the highest, also talking of Iberia. The same applies to night hours which, depending on the level, are paid at one price or another. Another important remuneration in the payroll will be the travel allowance which, even being the same for everyone, the amount for this will depend on the duration of each service (days away from home). Also, in some companies, there are additional payments subject to benefits or other factors included in the labor agreement as well as social benefits that increase the total wage bill.
In addition to the aforementioned concepts, many airlines have delegations in the different cities from which they operate for which an additional plus is usually paid.
Below, we will see some of the best known companies operating in Spain. All figures provided are approximate and may vary.
This “low cost”, that belongs to IAG group and with its main headquarters in Barcelona, is known for being the company with the lowest wages. Thus, the salary of a new co-pilot will be about 12.000€ per year while that of a more experienced pilot will range between 39.000 €/47.000€ per year, based on their seniority and flight hours. On the other hand, a new in the post commander will receive about 64.000€ per year and may reach 90.000€ as seniority is acquired.
SOURCE » Collective Agreement III – Vueling
This airline, based in Valencia, was founded in 1994 and in 1997 signed a franchise agreement with Iberia under the brand name Iberia Regional Air Nostrum. In 2020, the base salary of a commander ranged between €87,000 and €104,000, depending on their seniority, while that of copilots did it between €21,000 and €45,000, in 14 payments. Some variable concepts must be added to these amounts which may mean the 25% of the final remuneration. Besides, they enjoy 30 days of paid vacation per year and if they give up days off to operate unplanned production, they are compensated with about 600 € gross (for a commander) per unscheduled day off.
Also in 2020, the airline signed an agreement with its pilots with a salary increase for which they recovered part of what they had surrendered in previous years, being 14% for commanders and 7% for co-pilots.
SOURCE » Collective Agreement V – Air Nostrum
In 1989, the so-called BINTER Canarias, at the time belonging to Iberia, began its operations to communicate the islands of the archipelago. In the first decade of the 2000s, it began to operate some routes through the company Naysa causing a significant drop in pilot’s salaries that passed from 120,000€ gross per year to 70,000€ in the new company.
SOURCE » Collective Agreement III- Binter
This airline, founded in 1986, broke Iberia’s monopoly on regular domestic flights with its first operation of this type in 1993. In its three decades of existence it has been growing steadily until becoming the second company of reference in Spain. However, the economic events of recent times have caused that, the former competence of Iberia, is now negotiating for a possible integration into the IAG group, to which that one belongs.
In recent years, Air Europa has suffered different cuts so as to reduce the salaries of the most experienced pilots by up to 20%, leaving them in €71,000 per year compared to €36,000/€53,000 for copilots. At the same time, it has created a low-cost airline (Air Europa express) to compete with Iberia Express, in which the pilots are cheaper than in the parent company.
SOURCE » Collective Agreement IV – Air Europa
In the case of Iberia, in 2019, all pilots started from a base salary of 1,034.60€ except for the new ones who, during the first year, received 1,009.20€. Different pluses should be added to this retribution. These are: the 70 hours guarantee that oscillates between 95€ for the newly entered and almost 4,000€ for those on the highest level; the flight hours that exceed the guarantee and night hours that, likewise, are paid at a different price according to levels; travel allowances, that are the same for all levels; productivity plus, attendance or compensation for days off transfer which pays €1,003 for commanders and €686 for copilots.
Last October, pilots and company reached a new agreement and signed the X collective agreement for the next four years. This consolidates the restoration of much of what was surrended in previous years.
SOURCE » Collective Agreement X – Iberia
Taxes are an important point when talking about the money received through the year. In the case of this well-known “low cost”, with its headquarters in Ireland, its pilots are taxed according to Irish regulations. Thus, it may happen that, as their taxation is lower than that in other companies such as Iberia, its pilots end up earning more although their wage is lower. According to the company sources, the salary of a commander is around 103,000€ net/year, although this is denied by pilots who have worked for it. So, according to our information, a copilot newly entered, who earns per flight hours, can reach 27.000€ net per year if more than 85h per month are performed. Likewise, commanders will be able to make €60,000 net per year, also flying more than 85h per month. On the other hand, most of the pilots of this company are autonomous so, they do not enjoy paid vacations and in case of sick leave their remuneration at the end of the month can be considerably reduced.
SOURCE » Europapress.es
The agreement signed in July 2018 gives figures that, between base salary and pluses, would raise the remuneration of commanders to about 9,500 € gross per month and copilots, depending on whether they are junior or senior and their seniority, to an amount ranging from €3,400 to €4,600 gross per month. The additional flight hours, that are paid at about 8€ an hour, should be added to all that.
SOURCE » Collective Agreement I – Norwegian
This German airline is one of the favorites because of its better salaries. A new pilot, after a two-year training, can earn 110,000 € a year, which in a short time become 193,000€ as it is established by the German agreement. A veteran pilot will earn 225,000€. In addition, in 2018, the company announced a wage increase of around 4.4%.
SOURCE » Preferente.com
In this British company, which belongs to IAG group, the pilots have different salaries depending on the type of aircraft and the routes they fly. The average salary of a pilot in BA, according to the Glassdoor portal, is £88,000, or €97,600 per year. However, salaries range from £26,000 to £120,000 per year and can reach £168,000 for long-haul international pilots.
SOURCE » Preferente.com
The salary of a commander in this company is about 200.000€, being 144.000€ for copilots.
SOURCE » El Correo del Golfo
Thus, as we said before, wages vary greatly depending on the country, airline, seniority or rank. Likewise, working conditions and atmosphere are not the same in every company. Therefore, when choosing which airline we want to work for, we should not just look at remuneration.
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