Jetstar pilot wages

[Yada Yada]

Pilot mayday on Jetstar wages
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
March 08, 2006

QANTAS is heading for a showdown with pilots over plans to launch a low-cost Asian airline by the end of this year that would see the pilots paid up to $100,000 less than their mainline counterparts.

More than 70 per cent of Jetstar pilots who voted for a pay deal this week supported changes to the carrier's enterprise agreement, which allowed it to fly wide-body jets on long-haul routes. But the Qantas pilots' union will today attempt to head off the deal in the Industrial Relations Commission and has threatened further legal action.

<snip>

Describing the development as "extremely important", he said management was pleased with the support and the fact that 161 of the airline's 250-strong pilot group voted for it.

More...

The last paragraph in this story says: "The pay for narrow-body captains would rise to $133,000 in the first year. Mr Westaway said this was up from existing rates, but declined to say what they were. The Australian understands it is around $132,000."

So an extra $1,000 per annum, or $19.23 per week.

[danielribo]

$133k for a captain... no wonder they're not popular (a head flight attendant with a mainline gets close to that)

[bigjobs]

i get more than that and i don't have a single person's life in my hands, nor do any decisions i make have the ability to place people in harms way so directly.

that's an amazingly low amount of money i think.

[markis10]

i get more than that and i don't have a single person's life in my hands, nor do any decisions i make have the ability to place people in harms way so directly.

that's an amazingly low amount of money i think.

Try asking some of the pilots working for the regional airlines what they are paid and how it compares, given that they have spent many years to get to that stage and paid for a licence that is not exactly an asset you can sell and it seems a long way to the top for not much reward. They might not even get that far if a health issue pops up.

I have a commercial licence which I dont use, but I was lucky enough to be able to offset the cost as a tax deduction against a job that had a high tax bracket, most proffessionals are usually paid low wages as flight instructors so their tax deduction is often only 30c in the dollar at best, truely a labour of love on a long road to riches!

[oz_mark]

From News.com.au

Pilots ready to fight Jetstar in court
From: By Steve Creedy
March 09, 2006

QANTAS pilots are lodging an appeal and launching Federal Court action after yesterday failing in their first bid to stop a new Jetstar agreement that they claim undercuts industry wages and conditions.

The Industrial Relations Commission yesterday refused to hear arguments from the Australian and International Pilots Association against the certification of an enterprise bargaining agreement endorsed by Jetstar pilots.
More than 160 of Jetstar's 250 pilots, none of whom are AIPA members, voted in favour of changes that allow the low-cost Qantas offshoot to fly wide-body jets overseas.

...more

[BlacKnox]

$133K does seem like a small amount of money but I wonder how much ER doctors earn (lives in their hands daily too). I guess it's just the old supply/ demand element where the employer will only pay what the market dictates.

Note NorthWest pilots recently accepted a 24% pay cut and agreed to forgo raises for at least two years. Apparently a 1-2% payrise is slated for 2008.

[danielribo]

Northwest is in somewhat of a desperate financial situation right now, the same can't really be said for Qantas. Their profits are going up and up and up (unlike most major airlines at the moment) and I guess it's pretty obvious why that's the case...

[justinbrett]

Flight Attendents get paid six figure incomes? You can't be serious.

I'm in the wrong job.

[danielribo]

Perhaps not quite six figure, I may have been exagurating a little! But I do know of a QF International FA who gets $96k which is pretty damn close to six figures.
Be interesting to hear what a JQ first officer is paid, if it's $133k for a captain an FO would no doubt be well below $100k

[NM]

Also remember that there is a base salary, and then there are all sort of allowances and other payments and benefits on top of that. And some of those benefits are impossible to quantify, such as cheap travel - for some people it may not amount to much at all, while to others it could be worth many many thousands of dollars depending on how much they want to travel for personal reasons.