Should A First Officer Make More Than $23,900 A Year?
BusinessWeek has an interesting article about the economics of regional airlines — the smaller companies that are subcontracted to operate the less profitable routes for major airlines. Some were stunned to find out that first officer on the flight that crashed in Buffalo, NY only made $23,900 a year. Is this too little?
The airlines are quick to stress that there's no connection between salary and safety, and that the amount a pilot or first officer makes is determined by the marketplace:
Yet, anyone horrified by Shaw's salary must also confront their own primary motivation when booking an airline ticket: finding the lowest possible fare. The two are connected, say airline executives and pilots. "People will spend three hours on the Internet to save $8," says Arne Haak, vice-president for finance at AirTran Airways (AAI). "You know this! You do it yourself."
Airline economics changed dramatically with the deregulation of U.S. airlines in the late 1970s. The industry responded by evolving into hubs and spokes. Gradually, and far more in recent years, regional airlines have come to dominate most of the places where mainline flying is no longer economical. Smaller "regional" jets have become popular to handle busy routes that were once the exclusive domain of mainline pilots-even some Chicago-to-New York flights, for example. Air travel has become a commodity product, affordable for the masses, with the only difference on most flights being what you pay for the ticket. This fact drives nearly every revenue and cost decision. "Congress made a decision in 1978," says Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Assn., which represents the smaller airlines. "It is what it is."
Just how low can a cockpit salary go?
Have Airlines Cut Too Deep? [BusinessWeek]
(Photo:.nutter)
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Comments:
So it's our fault that the airlines paid this guy poorly. So how do they afford to give such good pay to the executives?
Shit. I live in a tiny town and fly all the time. I thought there was incentives and government funding ensuring that small towns had decent airline service?
I used to make more than that managing a teeny pizza place. This is sad.
I would say yes. I'm an administrative assistant and make about $21k/year. It would seem logical that a pilot should make significantly more than that.
i make that much working retail, and i probably have some better perks....
Unfortunately it's true. Airline travel seems to be one of those industries that are completely price elastic. No matter how hard an airline tries to differentiate itself the consumer still makes all decisions driven by price. However, for regional airlines, many times they're the only game in town (other than driving or train) so I have a hard time understanding why they can't bump up their fees a bit.
I like how Arne Haak thinks he can speak for me. "You know this! You do it yourself!"
This 1st officers salary was way too low for my comfort, and my nerves were at highpoint flying a prop plane on a regional airline last week.
I like big-giant Boeings and retired military pilots, if I get to choose.
We can just have the consumerist pop up a pilot tip jar on here and see how far it gets. I'm sure that will fix everything.
$23,900? Hell, FOs at other regional airlines are closer to about $18k/year. Some of these guys take a pay cut from what they were making as a flight instructor to take a job as an airline pilot.
I think what Roger Cohen meant to say was, "Congress made a decision in 1978, and we've been fucking it up ever since."
If you do some crude math, that salary approximates $11.50 an hour, assuming a 40-hour week.
There might be parts of the country where that's a comfortable living wage. I honestly don't know. I do know that everywhere I've ever lived -- Boston, NYC, DC -- it's not. Not if you have a partner or kids anyway. You can do it if you live in a single room and have multiple housemates / apartmentmates, and if you don't have a single debt.
I'm sorry, but there is a disconnect somewhere between all of this.
And trying to blame the consumer for why that person is paid peanuts?
I don't effing think so.
I love that its yet again deregulation that caused this mess.
Deregulation caused the banking crisis
Deregulation cause the energy crisis out west
Deregulation caused he airline mess
And yet even today we get some jackass from the republican party calling for MORE deregulation. Go figure.
See? Deregulation works!
"People will spend three hours on the Internet to save $8,"
That's no excuse when your fares are an order of magnitude higher than the cheapest airline in the first world.
Unless first officers at RyanAir make 1,000 GBP a year, these people are off their rockers if they think the "cheapness" of people here makes it impossible to pay more.
If I'm going to get the service of a bus-with-wings, I may as well get it at the right price.
@Esquire99: Why would they do that? Better chances at landing a larger commercial gig down the line?
@summerbee: Definitely got less than that working at Apple, but I didn't need a pilot's license to do so.
My Best Friend is a First officer, at US Airways. I dont know how much he makes, but he flies all over the usa for free, and almost international is under 100 bucks. So, I would say that it adds up in perks.
@Jim Topoleski: It's because no one looks at the past. They look at the NOW and glorify the FUTURE based on NOW. "Surely it can't happen this time!" That's the NOW mentality that needs to be stopped.
To put that salary in context a bit, I made 12 dollars an hour selling storage stuff at the container store as a seasonal employee about 4 years ago...if you know how to fly a plane, you should earn much more than that!!
Why don't these low-paid pilots just work in retail if it pays just as much? It appears that there is a surplus of pilots willing to work for low pay.
@Veeber: Yeah and hopefully you weren't responsible for anybody's life. It's one thing to make peanuts in a low-paying, high-stress job, but quite another to be entrusted not to kill people at such a salary. It seems to be like if you value someone enough to keep people safe, you could pay them more than the local TV reporter.
She had to be part time. My Wife used to work as a baggage handler for the airlines and she made more than that per hour.
@summerbee: That's LESS than I make as a Customer Service Rep. And these people are operating friggin' airplanes?!
@aerick79: It does on the big airlines, and officers on the big airlines make the big salaries.
But on the smaller, regional guys, it's low-paid work without much in the way of benefits.
Little bit like law -- for every guy making $300,000/year at a big NY firm, there are six guys making $40,000 doing boring scut work in a tertiary market or working for public aid or whatever, with 6 figures in school loans to pay back. Or like singers with multiplatinum albums vs. the singers working two jobs and then gigging six nights a week all over Missouri trying to make it.
You hear about the high fliers (no pun intended), but not about the guys doing the same job for a fraction of the salary because they either a) didn't rise to the top or b) didn't win the job-luck lottery. (Depending on the industry.)
@tailstoo: Don't you see, it makes perfect sense. If you stop giving business to airlines that charge the least, and logically pay their employees less, then they'll be able to afford to pay their employees more, right?
my brain hurts
@Etoiles: And only if you are willing to live with multiple roommates for a while. In some parts of the country, rent for a house is $500. But good luck finding a job that pays more than is minimum to pay for that $500 a month house.
@johnfrombrooklyn: its not really price elastic there just isn't a broad profit margin so if they don't sell enough seats flights get canceled.
Another industry where the CEO makes a pallet-load of money and the line workers who actually make the product (or in this case, fly the product) get paid peanuts.
It's not like the way the airlines schedule things makes this any easier. This post doesn't even begin to address the issue that not only did the FO on the Colgan flight earn a paltry wage, she was expected to perform an absolutely grueling schedule for that wage.
Even if she lived in Newark, she still would have been abused by Colgan, flying three flights per day. These crews routinely have days where they fly from EWR to YYZ at 6 AM for a day that includes three airports and is supposed to end at 10 PM. That's really long. But in this case, because of delays on the ground at EWR, the Colgan flight would have landed in BUF after 11 PM. In bad weather.
All kinds of wrong there. The blame lies squarely on Colgan (and Continental by association) and the FAA for not doing a damn thing about the salary/schedule twin fiasco that was obviously going to end in tragedy one day.
Great, that makes me feel super safe about flying. The pilots are making nothing, so one day they can just snap and be like "Screw it - I'm taking this whole thing down with me and my shitty salary!" If the pilots are making very little money, how much are the flight-attendants making?!
@Jim Topoleski: Hmm, Last time I checked the Airline deregulation happend in 1978. Democrat Pres and Democrat Congress.....
@missdona: I like the kinda sexy guy ( [en.wikipedia.org] ) who landed the plane in the Hudson, as long as we're picking. :)
@Ichiro51:
Pretty much, and flight instructor can takes its toll (Stress, etc.) after awhile if you don't really enjoy it. It's all part of "The Dream."
I think the salary is low, but I don't think it's fair to blame consumers for it. If I buy the ticket that costs $8 more than the cheapest, it won't be Shaw who sees that money.
OT: There are no cat pictures on the front page right now. :'(
Why is everyone missing that they do NOT have 40 hour work weeks, so the $11.xx per hour is not correct?
That's outrageous! I made $18 an hour working fraud prevention for a credit card company! I did handle some pretty crazy situations but it wasn't anything nearly as life sensitive as flying a plane. I was also a schlep with no post-secondary education.
This is the reason why I drive everywhere!
Making $23,000 for flying with my life in his hands reminds me of what Alan Shepard once told a reporter "`I wasn't scared, but I was up there looking around, and suddenly I realized I was sitting on top of a rocket built by the lowest bidder.'"
"It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract."
@Eyebrows McGee (popping ~May 29):
Actually the benefits (flight privileges) are usually pretty good for the regional guys, too. They usually get flight privileges on whatever airline their carrier operates for. The primary purpose of offering the benefits is to enable these guys to get to and from work, as some are "Based" at airports that aren't close to their residence.
I dated a NWA flight attendant for a long time, and from her I learned that a first-year flight attendant could likely be considered at under the poverty level...unfortunately, when she described the numbers, I realized it wasn't a joke. And I have no reason to believe NWA was materially different than any other airline.
Pilots make decent money working for a large airline, I believe as a rule...but if you're a pilot for, say, Mesaba, I doubt you're making any more money than the average cubicle-dweller.
I wonder if people would pay more if the salary of the pilot was part of the disclosure in the price search
@Jim Topoleski: It's quite a stretch to blame deregulation for a crash. Especially since every day there are tens of thousands of commuter airline flights that...you know...don't crash.
@ekthesy:
So the FAA should tell the airline how much to pay their pilots? If the wage was too low, no one would work for it. The truth of the matter is, being a pilot is a pretty easy job compared to a lot of others.
@Eyebrows McGee (popping ~May 29):
Sully's Adventure underscores just how thin the line is between hero and goat.
If that flight had turned out in tragedy as opposed to "miracle," Sully would have likely been unfairly vilified as the Colgan pilots have been. He commuted cross-country from California to LGA, he got paid a pretty low salary for a lifetime pilot, and it might have been said that he "couldn't handle the eventuality of a bird strike" as much as the Colgan crew couldn't handle the eventuality of the stick shaker activating.
Why wasn't he trained for bird strike resulting in engine failure, was he fatigued, where did he sleep last night, etc. etc. would have been discussed ad nauseam, and it was part skill, but part luck that made him a hero.
Where do you people make $12 an hour in retail? I make under $10 and I'm a friggin' assistant manager.
Even MORE proof that my job sucks total ass.
That's $459 per week before taxes. Assuming they work 40 hours a week, that's $11 an hour. That's only a tad bit more than I earned last summer working in retail.