What is the average annual salary of a Pilot and First Officer (co-pilot) at a commuter airline?

I want to clarify that both the captain and first officer are completely qualified to operate the plane in all stages of flight. I hate calling them pilot and co-pilot because it gives the implication that one is less qualified than the other. Note that sometimes the first officer may be more senior with more flight hours than the captain. I'm a captain for a regional airline and I've worked with at least three first officers with more seniority than me.

This in mind, I really say there is no way to average a pilot's salary. It's determined by seniority and type of plane flown. When I first started at the regional, if I had been married with kids, I could have gotten food stamps. Now, a few years later, I'm almost ready to open a savings account to finally buy a new car. Glamarous starting pay could be as low as 16,000 or 17,000 per year. The high end of airlines like American Eagle or Comair could be $80,000. How do you average that into an acceptible figure? It's impossible. Visit this site and click pilot pay rates. http://www.willflyforfood.cc/ Remember, those hourly rates are flight hour only, not duty time. Pilots are paid only when they are actually in the air.

How sad. A train dispatcher at BNSF makes 75K per year after the first 60 work days. He/she must struggle with 55K per year for the first two months.

Some commuters pay better than others. In 2004 on the low end one can expect less than $17K/yr at the smaller carriers, while some of the larger pay up to $22K/yr. A new hire regional First Officer is very low paid until they gain some seniority with their company. It may take a few years to see the $30K mark. The average first year hourly pay is about $20 per flight hour at most regionals, with a "minimum guarantee" of no less than 75 flight hours of pay per month, but not more than 100 hours (the legal max). This means they will gross $1,500 a month base pay at the minimum.

While on trips with overnights they will accrue "per diem" pay for the time spent away from base, which can add an extra $200-300 per month. These links below will provide you with specific regional airline pilot pay by hourly rates and years of service. To find the minimum monthly base pay, multiply the hourly pay by the airlines monthly guarantee (usually 75-80 hours per month):

http://www.airlinepilotpay.com/

http://www.airlinepilotcontracts.com/Contracts/index.htm

Note: these links also include payscales for the majors too.

In 1988 it was $12,400 per year to fly a 35 passenger Turbo-prop aircraft with one flight attendant. It was not until pilot morale was so low, turnover was high and training costs went sky high (no pun intended), did some of the Commuter Airlines raise base pay. The pay now, 16 years later is only $20,000 to $24,000 annually. It is sad, because these pilots fly more up and down flights in worse weather and have to do the same job as a Pilot flying a Boeing 747. Source: ME, I worked for Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) a Delta Airline Commuter based in Atlanta, GA.

they are responsible for many lives and remember they ere in the sky!the rate should at least start at 150,000 a year.

I always wanted to be a pilot but as i read all this i dont think that i no longer want to anymore. It seems like its really hard financially and getting hired!

FO $15,000 to $35,000. I would guess average to be $22,000.

CA $45,000 to around $90,000. I would guess average to be $60,000

Kind of hard to get an exact average for each.

Male or Female?

According to the Airline Pilots Association, the average captain makes close to $150,000 a year. However, many factors influence the payment of pilots. These factors include the airline, the type of aircraft being flown, level of experience, and amount of time with the company. Also, night-time and international flights tend to pay more than state-to-state flights.

Really that low? I remember back in about 1992 or 1993 I was working in some lowly admin role at now defunct airline Canadian Airlines and saw the rate of pay for pilots. Quite a few of them were over $200 000 per year, how times have changes.

Based on http://www.salarylist.com/all-pilot-real-jobs-salary.htm it can be as high as $186K, but average is only $52k http://www,salarylist.com

The biggest problem I have with the salaries is that I graduated with a bachelors degree, and on top of the regular costs of tuition, books, etc, I had to pay the university an additional $40,000 in flight fees. I hear it is around $100,000 now. Then you have to flight instruct or do something to build time before the regional airlines will even look at hiring you. For 2 years, I was building time, and some of my college buddies were being placed into $50,000 yr. jobs. I still don't make that much after 5 years flying jets, and yes, we do have a lot of peoples' lives at stake. Some van drivers at the hotels we stay at make more than I do. Plus, we are constantly being evaluated and checked by the FAA. It's not what it used to be. Another thing is that ticket prices are still about the same as they were in the late 1980s. Probably an indicator as to why so many airlines are losing money and pilots are not compensated like they should be.