In the April 2011 edition of Australian Aviation, Geoffrey Thomas produced a very interesting look at Qantas. Salaries were only mentioned once with this comment:
'For the pilots, some who earn close to $500,000, a different equation applies (referring to engineer's situation),and that is that they are in serious danger of pricing themselves out of a job. The airline industry as it is today cannot sustain those salary levels'
It would have to be a very senior captain (probably chief A380 captain I would imagine) with plenty of hours/service behind him/her to attain that salary level.
Many years ago I did make a brief aquaintance with a 737 Captain who I met through one of my previous internet websites who invited me to have a look over the 737-400 cockpit on his next visit to SYD.
He showed me his roster and told me that at the time the pilots were paid on actual hours flown plus 'duty time' (I presume prior to the 1989 pilot's strike, all flightcrew were on a salary depending on years of service, type of a/c flown etc.) He also mentioned that they could 'bid' on certain flights as long as they didn't exceed the maximum hours allowed per month.
This may have changed by now but don't know how salaries are calculated or negotiated these days.
|