Almost $600,000 – in the USA, pilot salaries are increasing enormously

Frankfurt Pilots in the USA could soon become millionaires in income: up to 590,000 US dollars, the equivalent of around 560,000 euros, is to be paid to a captain on long-haul routes with American Airlines annually. That’s what American boss Robert Isom wrote in early March in a letter to the airline’s pilots. On the short and medium-haul routes, the CEO offers a salary of up to $475,000. That would be $135,000 more than before.

It is the temporary high point of a wage spiral that has never been seen before in aviation. For comparison: At Lufthansa, a captain with the most flight experience and the longest tenure – known in technical jargon as seniority – can currently earn up to 287,000 euros a year, i.e. a good half. The background to the American boss’s latest offer is a massive shortage of pilots in the United States.