Airline Pilot Salaries in South Africa?

[sausa]

Hello,

I was born and raised in SA and moved to the US when I was 18. Learnt to fly and went through the hoops, now working for an Airline here. I have no intentions to move back but I was always curious what Airline pilots in SA actually earn.

It seems there is a big cultural difference between sharing salary information. I've asked on other forums and people seem to take offense to the question not sure why. Here everything is public, anyone in the world can look up my hourly rate. So if anyone can share or give me a general idea that would be great.

More specifically here are some questions:

Are pilots salaried or paid hourly?
What is the average income per year for a B737 FO, B737 CA?
Is everything done by seniority?
For a domestic airline, what does the average pilots schedule look like. Days off, layovers etc.

Many thanks.

[skydancer]

Hi Sausa, and welcome to Avcom, seeing that this is your first post.

Im not an airline pilot, so cant give you any figures unfortunately. But perhaps highlight why I think people might not really share salary info in some cases, and again I might be wrong too as it might be different from one place to another.

But sharing from my experience so far... Sometimes companies bring skilled people back into business, either from retirement or from another location which requires relocation, in order to work or assist on special projects. In these cases, these offer of employment are made attractive to make it worthwhile for them to accept. And these new employees might share the same title as someone else that might be working at the company already, sometimes for years. Now when unions, or even word, of this substandard offers are made public, it will send a wave of protests on end, in order to set the standards on salaries at that company or even industry as have been done here before.
Now here in South Africa, some businesses will not even survive a wave of strikes or protests at companies at a time like this, where we are battling with power outages on a daily bases and after the whole Covid lockdown phase, where businesses are still recovering their losses.

I hope i made sense and gives you an idea why salary info are sometimes kept away from the public. Again not all companies are like that, as they do set their standards on offer of employment and package structure.

Im sure alot can be said on this topic and why its a sensitive subject in general.

[Vcrit]

Someones salary is very personal information.

I have to question your curiosity to start with, why does it matter to you?

If you dont care, why dont you start the conversation of by sharing your income and expenses and maybe you'll have a few takers on your thread.

Regards

[Snitch]

The biggest reason for maintaining salaries confidential is to mask the pay differences between those performing the same job

This is true for most lower positions and private companies.
For publicly listed companies the boards remuneration is public information.

Older generations also tend to cling highly to their salary confidentiality, while younger generations tend to more freely share the info so that companies cannot take such huge advantages against them as they did in the past.

[evanb]

Older generations also tend to cling highly to their salary confidentiality, while younger generations tend to more freely share the info so that companies cannot take such huge advantages against them as they did in the past.

I also find it differs by country. In the US it was a taboo subject whereas in Europe many more public sector or pseudo public sector jobs meant salaries are often linked to publicly known structures making society more open about it.

[sausa]

I guess I'm going to get the same response here all good.

Yes I agree with the poster that younger generations are open about sharing salary information. I'm not asking for your name and DOB, I just want a general idea. No one is going to know how much you are making personally posting with a screen name on an anonymous forum or job board.

If salary information is not publicly shared, it is an advantage to the EMPLOYER and a disadvantage to the EMPLOYEE. How would one know they are being compensated fairly? You are setting yourself up for failure if you don't have this information.

Anyways if no one wants to answer that or give me a general idea, how about the other questions. Salaried vs hourly. Schedules/Layovers min days off.

Thank you

[sausa]

Older generations also tend to cling highly to their salary confidentiality, while younger generations tend to more freely share the info so that companies cannot take such huge advantages against them as they did in the past.

I also find it differs by country. In the US it was a taboo subject whereas in Europe many more public sector or pseudo public sector jobs meant salaries are often linked to publicly known structures making society more open about it.

Do you maybe have the countries mixed? Here's an example

https://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/air ... nstalled=0

Guys on this forum every year share their net earnings, airline and position. I guess airlines there are not unionized probably part of the problem.

[sausa]

Someones salary is very personal information.

I have to question your curiosity to start with, why does it matter to you?

If you dont care, why dont you start the conversation of by sharing your income and expenses and maybe you'll have a few takers on your thread.

Regards

Sure! Its not really going to mean anything to pilots in SA because cost of living etc is completely different, which is why I'm curious and asked for SA Airline pilot compensation, but i'm glad to share.

Yr 2/3 United B737 FO

179k gross
7k profit sharing
193k total (6k Per diem)
977 credit
534 block

[Burner]

Someones salary is very personal information.

I have to question your curiosity to start with, why does it matter to you?

If you dont care, why dont you start the conversation of by sharing your income and expenses and maybe you'll have a few takers on your thread.

Regards

Sure! Its not really going to mean anything to pilots in SA because cost of living etc is completely different, which is why I'm curious and asked for SA Airline pilot compensation, but i'm glad to share.

Yr 2/3 United B737 FO

179k gross
7k profit sharing
193k total (6k Per diem)
977 credit
534 block

What's the net on that?

[Down under]

I agree with ya man, not sure why the secrecy for everything. Over here in the US you can pretty much look up any company and get their pay, benefits, retirement, interview questions, training footprint etc. Really helps you to make an informed decision for your career. Also there are very very few companies that requires you to pay or be bonded for a type rating, as it should be. The one thing I hated the most about the SA/Africa job Market was that a lot of times you had to pay your way up the ranks to get anywhere close to a turbo prop never mind a jet and sign your life away for some training bond.

[Down under]

Someones salary is very personal information.

I have to question your curiosity to start with, why does it matter to you?

If you dont care, why dont you start the conversation of by sharing your income and expenses and maybe you'll have a few takers on your thread.

Regards

Sure! Its not really going to mean anything to pilots in SA because cost of living etc is completely different, which is why I'm curious and asked for SA Airline pilot compensation, but i'm glad to share.

Yr 2/3 United B737 FO

179k gross
7k profit sharing
193k total (6k Per diem)
977 credit
534 block

What's the net on that?

Take home on that should be roughly around 136k US depending on where you live. You have federal tax and state income tax. If you live in some states there are no state income tax.

[Fransw]

Good to hear from our US mates!

You guys on that side of the Atlantic are privileged to have a booming aviation market(compared to us here...)

[b-rad]

Someones salary is very personal information.

I have to question your curiosity to start with, why does it matter to you?

If you dont care, why dont you start the conversation of by sharing your income and expenses and maybe you'll have a few takers on your thread.

Regards

Sure! Its not really going to mean anything to pilots in SA because cost of living etc is completely different, which is why I'm curious and asked for SA Airline pilot compensation, but i'm glad to share.

Yr 2/3 United B737 FO

179k gross
7k profit sharing
193k total (6k Per diem)
977 credit
534 block

What kind of roster do you have? Is there some movement of pilots chasing sign on bonuses?

[Down under]

Good to hear from our US mates!

You guys on that side of the Atlantic are privileged to have a booming aviation market(compared to us here...)

Extremely privileged. I have to pinch myself everyday and I am truly thankful for the opportunities I have been given to fly over here. I wish there was a way to open the flood gates for South Africans, they will get some high quality applicants and hard workers.

[Down under]

Someones salary is very personal information.

I have to question your curiosity to start with, why does it matter to you?

If you dont care, why dont you start the conversation of by sharing your income and expenses and maybe you'll have a few takers on your thread.

Regards

Sure! Its not really going to mean anything to pilots in SA because cost of living etc is completely different, which is why I'm curious and asked for SA Airline pilot compensation, but i'm glad to share.

Yr 2/3 United B737 FO

179k gross
7k profit sharing
193k total (6k Per diem)
977 credit
534 block

What kind of roster do you have? Is there some movement of pilots chasing sign on bonuses?

Not to high jack sausa's thread and I can't speak for United. In general in the US the regionals, ULCC, majors do anything from 1-5 day trips. Everything is seniority based so the senior guys normally get to do the 1-3 day trips and the more junior guys gets the 4-5 day trips with some exceptions of course. On a 4 day trip for example you will leave your base on day 1 and only return on day 4. That is one thing that is nice in the SA airline industry, you pretty much sleep in your own bed every night. Over here, depending on your seniority and if you commute, you can be away from home 10-15 days a month maybe even more.

The sign on bonuses are crazy right now. I am getting cold emails from some regionals offering a 100kUS$ sign on bonus on day 1. The regionals and even ULCC's are really struggling right now with attrition. Each major is planning on hiring a couple of thousand applicants just this year. The sign on bonus is more at the regional and ULCC level to try and poach competition from their respective competitors. So the majority of the guys chasing the bonuses are CFI level.

Normally to get to the airlines you become a CFI for a year or two, get your 1500 hours for ATP, go to a regional for 2-3 years to get your jet time and then go to a major for your final career move. Now they are so desperate even some ULCC's are taking guys straight from CFI with an ATP to fly an airbus.

The US has its problems like everywhere else, but the aviation industry I would argue is probably the best in the world right now.