AUSTRALIA'S AVIATION FUTURE
Pilot salaries and conditions have been steadily declining for years, which is why they have been flooding the Middle Eastern airlines that continue to pay higher wages in tax-free environments.
That’s why there are thousands of Australian pilots working overseas who cannot afford to return home and fly for The Flying Doctor or regional carriers such as Regional Express, (a combination of Kendell and Hazelton Airlines); and whose pride won't let them fly for Jetstar, Tiger, Virgin who are paying pre-1990 prices.
In 1990 an Ansett Captain received 217 dollars per flown hour, ($165,000 for about 760 'stick' hours).
In 2010 a Tiger Captain receives about 123 (1990) dollars per flown hour; $111,000 1990 dollars for 900 ‘stick’ hours adjusted for inflation ($180,000 in 2010 ); 67% of the Ansett Pilot’s salary.
Yet a Tiger A320 Captain transports 180 passengers, opposed to about 136 in the Ansett A320. So they are even more productive.
A Tiger pilot carries 81,000 passengers per year as compared to the Ansett pilot, who carried 51,680.
So as well as receiving only 67% of the Ansett Pilot’s wage, a Tiger Pilot is doing the same work as 1.56 Ansett Pilots.
During that time, the inflationary indicator that measures the change in the cost of a fixed basket of products and services, including housing, electricity, food, and transportation (called the Consumer Price Index), has risen by 162%.
The ‘per flown hour’ is a relative number which in no way reflects the real number of hours worked.
Pilots are not paid for sitting in the cockpit before flights (when most of the tricky problem-solving issues are encountered), or after flights, when interfacing with Engineering or Regulatory personnel. Or in the office flight planning, (arguably the most important part of the day); when transporting to and from the aeroplane; or in simulators every six months for the licence renewal; or whilst attending Doctors’ surgeries for medicals; or when studying at home, (required to maintain professional standards).
Besides curbing alcohol and drug consumption, the job encroaches into private lives in other ways. For example – very few books are read for pleasure, since the professional reading requirements are high.
But what is rarely-mentioned is the entry cost, the after tax-dollars cost of learning to fly to the level of Airline Pilot. About $100,000 to $180,000 depending on your choice of school.
The figures above apply to those at the top of the profession. So, as a return on investment, the job of being an airline pilot no longer rates consideration.
As the industry has increased the retirement age to 65; (and now no limit in Australia … there are captains still flying in their 70s); the promotion has slowed, resulting in First Officers (who receive only 50-65% of Captain’s salaries) not receiving their commands until well into their 50s. One recently received his first jet airliner command, (on the A320), at 61, forty years into his career.
That’s a long time on apprentice’s wages.
Hero A320 Pilot Sullenburger, who parked his A320 in the Hudson River, told the US Congress what he thought about the destruction of his profession. His biting remarks can be seen in Michael Moore’s latest documentary in which he turns his lens to the issue of pilot salaries in the U.S.A., and reveals that one crash occurred as pilots were distracted in a discussion about their salaries and fatigue.*
So, who would be a pilot in the future? It’s always been a trade-off between love of flying versus low salary, versus cost of obtaining the licence and experience.
Retired Qantas Captain Sandy Howard told ABC radio in February that many people are choosing to follow a high-earning career and fly recreationally instead of becoming an airline pilot.
Already, Captains are complaining that their new co-pilots are more inexperienced than their counterparts from twenty years ago, and lack the important crash-saving intangible: “situational awareness”.
This reporter wrote an advertising campaign for an aviation textbook publisher in the 1990s that predicted the day when co-pilots would arrive on the flight decks after having passed many ‘exams’ (from prepared cheat notes) but had never been ‘tested’ in the real world. At least his company’s text books were only interested in imparting knowledge, not just test results like the opposition.
That day has already arrived.
It has always been the case that the pilot in the right seat has been earning less than the Cabin Attendant in regional aeroplanes.
Are you happy that the Captain of your airliner, who is trained and ready to fight to the death to save you from the worst aviation catastrophe imaginable, is so financially disadvantaged compared to, say, the person compiling your tax return?
And will you still be happy to get in the same aeroplane the day after that Captain retires, and their seat is taken by a new-age pilot who has passed the exams, but maybe not qualified for the test of real life?
March 6th, 2010
*See the five minute segment, taken from CAPITALISM : A LOVE STORY here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKQJx3L_CDQ
That’s why there are thousands of Australian pilots working overseas who cannot afford to return home and fly for The Flying Doctor or regional carriers such as Regional Express, (a combination of Kendell and Hazelton Airlines); and whose pride won't let them fly for Jetstar, Tiger, Virgin who are paying pre-1990 prices.
In 1990 an Ansett Captain received 217 dollars per flown hour, ($165,000 for about 760 'stick' hours).
In 2010 a Tiger Captain receives about 123 (1990) dollars per flown hour; $111,000 1990 dollars for 900 ‘stick’ hours adjusted for inflation ($180,000 in 2010 ); 67% of the Ansett Pilot’s salary.
Yet a Tiger A320 Captain transports 180 passengers, opposed to about 136 in the Ansett A320. So they are even more productive.
A Tiger pilot carries 81,000 passengers per year as compared to the Ansett pilot, who carried 51,680.
So as well as receiving only 67% of the Ansett Pilot’s wage, a Tiger Pilot is doing the same work as 1.56 Ansett Pilots.
During that time, the inflationary indicator that measures the change in the cost of a fixed basket of products and services, including housing, electricity, food, and transportation (called the Consumer Price Index), has risen by 162%.
The ‘per flown hour’ is a relative number which in no way reflects the real number of hours worked.
Pilots are not paid for sitting in the cockpit before flights (when most of the tricky problem-solving issues are encountered), or after flights, when interfacing with Engineering or Regulatory personnel. Or in the office flight planning, (arguably the most important part of the day); when transporting to and from the aeroplane; or in simulators every six months for the licence renewal; or whilst attending Doctors’ surgeries for medicals; or when studying at home, (required to maintain professional standards).
Besides curbing alcohol and drug consumption, the job encroaches into private lives in other ways. For example – very few books are read for pleasure, since the professional reading requirements are high.
But what is rarely-mentioned is the entry cost, the after tax-dollars cost of learning to fly to the level of Airline Pilot. About $100,000 to $180,000 depending on your choice of school.
The figures above apply to those at the top of the profession. So, as a return on investment, the job of being an airline pilot no longer rates consideration.
As the industry has increased the retirement age to 65; (and now no limit in Australia … there are captains still flying in their 70s); the promotion has slowed, resulting in First Officers (who receive only 50-65% of Captain’s salaries) not receiving their commands until well into their 50s. One recently received his first jet airliner command, (on the A320), at 61, forty years into his career.
That’s a long time on apprentice’s wages.
Hero A320 Pilot Sullenburger, who parked his A320 in the Hudson River, told the US Congress what he thought about the destruction of his profession. His biting remarks can be seen in Michael Moore’s latest documentary in which he turns his lens to the issue of pilot salaries in the U.S.A., and reveals that one crash occurred as pilots were distracted in a discussion about their salaries and fatigue.*
So, who would be a pilot in the future? It’s always been a trade-off between love of flying versus low salary, versus cost of obtaining the licence and experience.
Retired Qantas Captain Sandy Howard told ABC radio in February that many people are choosing to follow a high-earning career and fly recreationally instead of becoming an airline pilot.
Already, Captains are complaining that their new co-pilots are more inexperienced than their counterparts from twenty years ago, and lack the important crash-saving intangible: “situational awareness”.
This reporter wrote an advertising campaign for an aviation textbook publisher in the 1990s that predicted the day when co-pilots would arrive on the flight decks after having passed many ‘exams’ (from prepared cheat notes) but had never been ‘tested’ in the real world. At least his company’s text books were only interested in imparting knowledge, not just test results like the opposition.
That day has already arrived.
It has always been the case that the pilot in the right seat has been earning less than the Cabin Attendant in regional aeroplanes.
Are you happy that the Captain of your airliner, who is trained and ready to fight to the death to save you from the worst aviation catastrophe imaginable, is so financially disadvantaged compared to, say, the person compiling your tax return?
And will you still be happy to get in the same aeroplane the day after that Captain retires, and their seat is taken by a new-age pilot who has passed the exams, but maybe not qualified for the test of real life?
March 6th, 2010
*See the five minute segment, taken from CAPITALISM : A LOVE STORY here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKQJx3L_CDQ
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