regional pay 10 years ago

[BRA]

I was wondering what the pay scales looked like at the regionals around 10 and 15 years ago. What did a first year FO make around the early 1990's? First year captain? Was it considered as bad as now? Did people complain about places like mesa back then?

 

[jarhead]

I guess it would be hard to give a definitive answer to your question, as the group known as regionals, have a wide disparity as to pay, and of aircraft flown. I believe Comair is way ahead in pay from where they were 10 or 15 years ago. Some pilots there actually feel they make a pretty good living, compared to some occupations. Of course, their will be those who benchmark everything to that of a 25 year Delta captain flying triple 7's, but that, I feel, is a red herring.

The first two years at any regional airline has fairly low pay scales, but the Captain salary is quite decent after a relatively short time. Certainly better than I earned in my career as a purchaing agent for a manufacturing company.

Just my humble opinion.

Jarhead.

 

[SDdriver]

I had a few friends that were FO's back in the early 90's and they made about 800 a month gross working for Simmons, Airlink, and CoEx. I think Captains made around 1500 a month gross on average. These are ball park figs from what I remember back then. Also everything regionals wass pretty much PFT back then, it was about 10k for FLight Saftey that you had to pay for before you could get the job. Of course there were not really any Rjs back then, there were mainly J31's and E120's at these pay scales.

Hope that answers you ?'s maybe someone else can add a little more. I never went for the Regionals back then cause of the PFT thing, I just quit flying did something else till it went away and then got back in the game. Never sold out! See ya..

SD

 

[~~~^~~~]

ASA regardless of longevity $18 Captains $10 FO's. The airline had crews all bunk in the same hotel room on the Bandit (EMB110) until there were a few female pilots, which made the double bunking thing a problem.

 

[banned username 2]

Back in the early 90's I knew guys who went to the "Commuters"... Most were flying B-1900's or maybe ATR's (Eagle)...

I know Great Lakes was paying F/O's something on the order of $10k per year, they were about the lowest. I think a "typical" first year F/O was somewhere around $13-15k, first year Captain pay was in the low $20k range. Most places you had to be somewhere quite a while before you were going to see $30k/year. Upgrade times were also quite high, most guys were waiting 2+ years to upgrade to 1900 Capt.

As the other person said, PFT (Pay-for-Training) was also rampant throughout the industry. This was my main reason for going Corporate, there was no way I was going to PFT... The extremely low pay was the other reason. I went to a Charter outfit from flight instructing and started as a King Air and Lear F/O and was making over $30k/year, and they paid for all my training.

 

[FlyDeltasJets]

That can't be.

If there's one thing I have learned from these boards it's that ALPA has terribly harmed the careers of regional pilots.

Am I now to understand that their payscales have actually gone up? Even those with ALPA on the property?

Can't be.

 

[jarhead]

FDJ

Guess I'm not surprized that you would steet the thread to an rjdc debate. I'd suggest that be left in the courts, as it's been discussed ad nausium on these, and other boards.

 

[bobbysamd]

Commuter (regional) pay in the early '90

I'm from that era. I remember those times well. I second SDdriver's and Falcon Capt.'s comments 100%.

First-year FO pay, flying Metros, Shorts and 1900s for such places as Simmons, Wings West, Trans Colorado, Mesa, etc., was something like $12K. Second-year pay was better. Captain's pay was something like $25K, which really was a living wage in those days. BAe 146 (Avro) captains at WestAir/United Express made $45K. I would have liked a job like that.

Equipment indeed comprised primarily both versions of Shorts, and Saabs, Metroliners, Beech 99s, 1300s, 1900s, J31s, J41s (Jetstream International got its name because it flew J31s), Dash 7s and 8s, Bandits, Brasilias, ATR 42s and 72s, etc. Saabs had glass and were considered to be very advanced aircraft. So were Brasilias, with their Concorde-like yokes. BAe146s were the only jets.

SD and Falcon Capt. are right on the money regarding their recollections of P-F-T. P-F-T descended on the industry like a fog, very suddenly. I interviewed at WestAir, Mesa, Eagle and Comair, and had a cattle call at Express I/Airlink (is that Pinnacle now?). No mention of P-F-T at my interviews. Then, within months, came P-F-T. All of a sudden, the jobs for which I qualified on paper, only required a check for one to be qualified. I thought that was baloney. Still do.

Finally, yes, people complained bitterly about Mesa. The Risleys owned the place back then. Such star executives of the industry as Grady Reed ran the place. They pinched pennies and nickels until they screamed. They resisted the unions with all their might. I recall that most Mesa pilots were extremely bitter, and stayed only long enough to the time they needed for the majors. Having said all that, Mesa had no shortage of applicants - myself included.

Hope that answers the question some more.

 

[jbDC9]

Regional pay 10 yrs ago? In a word, sh!tty!

As a Mesa new hire (no PFT) in '93 I made .056 cents per mile. Yep, mileage scale, fractions of pennies... a good line was anywhere from 16,000 to 18,000 miles as I recall, which added up to roughly $900/month. It took just over 2 yrs to upgrade on the 1900, then I pulled down a whopping $24K /yr. When I was left seat on the Beech my brother was right seat on the E120 at Skywest making quite a bit more than me... pretty sad, really.

Mesa wasn't my first choice of outfits to go to, but no one else was hiring, or the few that were had started PFT. No thanks. Skywest was a puzzler, even with 5-6000 hrs total and over 1,000 in the 1900 they wouldn't talk to me, no interview even with a twin brother there putting in a good word for me. Waaahhhhh. It's okay, I'm finally over it...

 

[bobbysamd]

SkyWest

Skywest was a puzzler, even with 5-6000 hrs total and over 1,000 in the 1900 they wouldn't talk to me . . . .

You, too?

I first applied there in the fall of 1988 with something like 950 hours and 50 of multi, when they required 1000 total-100 multi. I continued to update and send in fresh apps as I built time. I continued that process regularly during the better part of six years, with my final attempt coming with the quals you see at left. That attempt involved a former student who had been hired there carrying in my app and another application fee. My check was returned. I was never called.

Once more, six years of trying to get an interview at SkyWest. You had far better quals and connections than me. Having read your story, now I don't feel so bad, though I don't understand why you weren't called.