A reader asked why the pilot profession is not one of the top 100 jobs. Maybe it's not one of the "common" jobs as defined by the Ministry of Manpower survey.

From today's Straits Times, we get a better picture of how much SIA pilots make. This continues from where the previous post on SQ pilots' pay left off.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its pilots have asked the Industrial Arbitration Court (IAC) to settle their disagreements on the salary structure for Airbus A-380 pilots.

The IAC ruling is that A-380 Captains will get a basic pay in the range of $10,700 to $16,500. A-380 First Officers (junior pilots) will get $6,050 to $9,250 as basic pay.

On top of the basic pay, the Captains will get $55 per hour as productivity allowance, while FOs get $36 per hour. This is the allowance paid out when the pilots actually clock flying hours.

Some airlines guarantee pilots a minimum number of flying hours per month, e.g. Delta airlines guarantees 65 hours (see article in AskCaptainLim.com).

However, SIA does not give such a guarantee.

To get an idea of how much SIA pilots get as gross pay, let's assume they fly a minimum of 65 hours every month, and let's take the mid-values of the ranges mentioned above. These are the "average gross salaries" of A-380 pilots according to my calculations:

- Captains: $17,175 per month
- First Officers: $9,990 per month


http://www.salary.sg/2007/pilots-pay/