Salary check – how many pilots really earn

As is well known, freedom over the clouds is limitless. The content of the people who work up there is also, although capped, partly astronomically high.

Pilots are among the professional groups with the highest salaries, but they can vary greatly. They depend on several factors such as professional experience, employer, aircraft type and position (co-pilot or captain).

According to the industry magazine Aero International makes the position in the cockpit the biggest difference in pilots content:

The salaries of pilots have been loud in the past two years Aero International increased. There are two reasons for this: more and more pilots are missing worldwide because demand is increasing by expanding the fleets and increasing number of aircraft. At the same time, many pilots will retire in the coming years.

Airlines vouch for experienced pilots with high salaries and additional services and try to secure personnel increases.

Large and new airlines, especially in Asia and the Middle East, offer extremely high salaries to attract pilots. This can lead to a domino effect that causes the salaries to rise across the sector.

If you get a job with a renowned airline, you can expect a significantly higher income than at low -cost airlines or subsidiaries. The decisive factor is also the gathering professional experience: in a managerial function, one captain often deserves two to three times a co-pilot.

Depending on the employer, co-pilots start with a gross monthly salary, which is between 1500 and 6500 euros. In captains, the basic monthly content begins between 3000 and 12,000 euros depending on the airline.

On average, the annual covers for CO pilots are around 100,000 euros, while captains on medium-hauled an average of around 135,000 euros annually-that corresponds to around 8,300 and 11,250 euros per month.

Even with high salaries, pilots regularly demand improvements. In 2023, the Lufthansa and the Pilot Union Association Cockpit agreed a long -term tariff degree, which was supposed to run by the end of 2026.

The new conditions of the contract were extremely good:

Collective bargaining has been running again since 2025, in particular on the subject of company pension schemes, which leads to conflicts. The strong negotiating position of the pilots is based on the ongoing shortage of skilled workers – so they often succeed in enforcing their demands.

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