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Pilot Salary · BLS May 2025 Data · 2026 Airline Pay Scales
How Much Do Pilots Make? Airline, Commercial And Instructor Pay In 2026, Year By Year
The median airline pilot in the United States earned $232,140 last year, and the top ten percent cleared $463,830. Nobody starts there. This page shows what you earn at every step between your first instructing job and a widebody captain’s seat, using the government’s wage survey and the pay scales the airlines actually publish — not a recruiter’s brochure.
Regional First Officer: $85K–$110K In Year OneMajor Airline Captain: $388–$484 An Hour16,400 Openings A Year Through 2035
$232,140median annual pay, airline pilots, copilots and flight engineers (BLS, May 2025)
$123,220median annual pay, commercial pilots outside the airlines (BLS, May 2025)
$463,830+what the top 10% of airline pilots earned in 2025
16,400pilot job openings projected every year, 2025 to 2035
The Short Answer
Pilots Are Paid Very Well, Eventually, And The Word Eventually Is Doing A Lot Of Work
The Bureau of Labor Statistics splits pilots into two groups, and the gap between them is the whole story of a flying career.
Airline pilots — the people flying scheduled passenger and cargo jets — had a median wage of $232,140 in May 2025. Half earned more than that, half less. The bottom ten percent, which is mostly first-year regional first officers, earned under $106,710. The top ten percent, senior widebody captains at the big carriers, earned more than $463,830 before profit sharing.
Commercial pilots in the BLS sense are everyone else flying for a living: charter, corporate, cargo feeders, aerial survey, banner towing, flight instruction. Their median was $123,220, with the lowest ten percent under $58,850 and the highest above $266,620. A brand-new flight instructor sits at the bottom of that range. A senior corporate captain on a long-range business jet sits at the top of it.
The reason the spread is so wide is that pilot pay is not negotiated person by person. It is set by contract, printed in a table, and it rises with two things only: your seniority number at the company, and the aircraft and seat you hold. Nobody gets a raise for being good. Everybody gets a raise for staying. That is a strange system if you come from another industry, and it is the single most useful thing to understand before you decide whether the training is worth it.
The Published Pay Scales
What The Airlines Actually Pay In 2026
Airline pilots are paid by the credit hour, with a guaranteed minimum every month whether or not the schedule fills it. These are the published 2026 rates for the carriers our graduates most often go to, with the annual figure worked out at each airline’s own guarantee. Per diem, profit sharing and the retirement contribution come on top.
| Airline | Seat | Hourly Rate | Base Pay (Approx.) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest | First Officer, Year 1 | $92.73 | $84,600 | 76-hour guarantee; $83K–$110K realistic first-year total with per diem and premium flying |
| Envoy (American Eagle) | First Officer, Year 1 | $99.00 | $90,000 | Wholly owned by American; sign-on bonuses up to $100,000 have been offered for experienced hires |
| SkyWest | Captain, Year 1 | $144.24 | $131,500 | Upgrade typically comes two to four years in |
| SkyWest | Captain, Year 12 | $197.00 | $179,700 | Top of scale is $222 an hour at year 20 |
| American | First Officer, Year 1 | $113.00 | $99,000 | 73-hour guarantee |
| Delta | First Officer, Year 1 | $118.00 | $92,000 | 65-hour guarantee; most first officers fly well above it |
| United | First Officer, Year 1 | $125.52 | $105,400 | 70-hour guarantee |
| Delta / United | Captain, Year 12, Narrowbody | $388.27 | $303,000–$326,000 | 737, A320, A321 fleets |
| American | Captain, Year 12, Narrowbody | $402.01 | $352,000 | Highest narrowbody captain rate of the three in 2026 |
| Delta / American | Captain, Year 12, Widebody | $465.13 | $363,000–$407,000 | A350, 777, 787 fleets |
| United | Captain, Year 12, Widebody | $483.74 | $406,000 | Highest published hourly rate at a US passenger airline |
Two things the table understates. First, the retirement contribution: Delta and United put 18 percent of pay into a pilot’s 401(k) with no employee contribution required, and American is in the mid-teens. On a $400,000 salary that is $72,000 a year you never see in the paycheck. Second, profit sharing, which at Delta has run to several weeks’ pay in a good year. Independent estimates put a senior Delta widebody captain’s total compensation near $600,000 in 2026. The cargo carriers, FedEx and UPS, pay on a similar scale to the majors and their first-year first officers start higher, at roughly $105,000.
Year By Year
The Pay Timeline, From Zero Hours To A Widebody Captain’s Seat
This is the path nearly every civilian airline pilot in America walks. The years are typical, not guaranteed — hiring waves and slowdowns stretch and compress them — but the order never changes.
YEARS 0–1
Student: You Are The One Paying
Private, instrument, commercial and flight instructor certificates, roughly 250 hours. There is no income from flying yet. At Van Nuys the whole sequence is the $89,000 Airline Pilot Program, and most students keep a job through the first year of it. The number matters, because everything on this page is measured against it.
YEARS 1–2
Flight Instructor: $40,000 To $70,000
The first flying job for most pilots. Instructors are paid per hour of instruction given, commonly $30 to $60, so the income depends on how busy the school is and how much you are willing to fly. A full-time instructor at a busy Southern California school builds the 1,500 hours the airlines require in 12 to 24 months. The pay is modest; the hours are the point.
YEARS 2–4
Regional First Officer: $85,000 To $110,000
With 1,500 hours and an ATP certificate the regional airlines hire you into the right seat of a 50- to 76-seat jet. SkyWest’s first-year rate is $92.73 an hour on a 76-hour guarantee; Envoy’s is $99. Add per diem and the premium pay for picking up extra trips and most first-year regional first officers clear $90,000. A decade ago this job paid under $40,000. The pilot shortage fixed that, and the contracts have not gone backwards.
YEARS 4–6
Regional Captain: $130,000 To $180,000
Upgrade to the left seat comes with 1,000 hours of airline time and whatever seniority the base requires, often two to four years. A first-year SkyWest captain earns $144.24 an hour, about $131,500 base; a twelve-year captain is at $197. Some pilots stay here for a career and live well on it. Most use it as the interview credential for the next step.
YEARS 5–10
Major Airline First Officer: $100,000 To $250,000
The step everyone is aiming for. First-year first officer rates at the three largest carriers are $113 to $125.52 an hour in 2026, which at guarantee is $92,000 to $105,000 and in practice usually more. It then climbs every year on the printed scale: a twelve-year United first officer on a widebody is at $330.44 an hour. Many pilots earn more as a senior first officer on a big aeroplane than as a junior captain on a small one, and choose accordingly.
YEARS 10–35
Major Airline Captain: $300,000 To $600,000
Narrowbody captains at Delta, United and American earn $388 to $402 an hour at year twelve, widebody captains $465 to $484. With an 18 percent retirement contribution and profit sharing, a senior widebody captain’s total compensation runs close to $600,000. Mandatory retirement is 65, so a pilot who starts at 25 gets roughly 30 years of it.
How The Money Works
Why Pilot Pay Is Quoted By The Hour, And What The Hour Actually Means
An airline pilot on $400 an hour is not at work for 2,080 hours a year. Understanding the credit hour is what turns the table above into a real number.
The credit hour. Pilots are paid for block time — the moment the aircraft pushes back to the moment it parks — plus a set of contractual minimums that protect them when a trip is short or a day is long. A line pilot typically credits 75 to 90 hours a month and is away from home 12 to 18 days to earn them. Federal rules cap flying at 1,000 hours a year.
The guarantee. Every contract has a monthly minimum — 65 hours at Delta, 70 at United, 73 at American, 76 at SkyWest — paid whether or not the schedule fills it. The base pay figures above are hourly rate times guarantee times twelve. That is the floor, not the average.
Per diem. A tax-advantaged hourly allowance, around $2 to $3 an hour, paid for every hour away from base including the hotel nights. For a pilot away 15 days a month that is several thousand dollars a year on top.
Retirement and profit sharing. The three largest US airlines contribute 13 to 18 percent of pay to a pilot’s 401(k) with nothing required from the pilot. Profit sharing at the majors has recently been worth anything from a few percent to more than a month’s pay. Neither shows up in the hourly rate, and both are why the true number is always higher than the table.
Seniority, not merit. Your position on the seniority list decides your aircraft, your seat, your base, your schedule and your pay. The list is the date you were hired. This is why pilots talk about “getting on with a major” as the goal: every year you arrive earlier is a year further up the list for the next three decades.
What Moves The Number
Six Things That Decide Whether You Earn $90,000 Or $450,000
1
Seniority
Every pay table is a grid of years down the side and aircraft across the top. You move down the side by staying. There is no other way, which is why the fastest route to high pay is the earliest possible hire date at the carrier you want to retire from.
2
Aircraft Type
Bigger aeroplane, bigger rate. The widebody premium at the majors is roughly $75 to $95 an hour over narrowbody at the same seniority. A twelve-year United captain earns $388.27 on a 737 and $483.74 on a 787.
3
Seat
Captains earn roughly 50 percent more than first officers at the same year on the same aircraft. When you upgrade is set by the airline’s growth and your seniority, not by how good you are.
4
Passenger Versus Cargo
FedEx and UPS pay on a par with the passenger majors, start first officers higher, and fly more at night. Corporate and charter flying spans an enormous range: a rookie in a King Air earns regional-first-officer money; a senior Gulfstream captain for a large fleet operator earns more than many airline captains.
5
Base
A Los Angeles base is popular, which means it is senior, which means junior pilots commute to it. Where you live relative to where you are based decides how many of your days off are actually off. Pay is the same either way.
6
Premium Flying
Open trips on days off pay 150 percent at most carriers, and 200 percent when the airline is short. Pilots who want the money pick them up; pilots who want the time do not. It is the one lever a pilot controls directly, and it is worth $20,000 to $50,000 a year to those who pull it.
Pay Versus Cost
The Return On $89,000, Worked Out Honestly
Our zero-to-airline program is $89,000 and takes most full-time students 12 to 18 months to the flight instructor certificate. Add a year to 18 months of instructing and you are eligible for the regionals, where a first-year first officer earns roughly $85,000 to $110,000 in 2026. In other words the entire cost of training is about one year of your first airline salary. Two years after that, as a regional captain, you are earning $130,000 or more; a decade in, at a major, the training cost is a rounding error against a single year’s pay.
That is the good case, and it is the common one right now. The honest caveats: hiring runs in waves, and a downturn can add two or three years of instructing or regional flying before the next step. Medical certification has to be maintained for the whole career. And the first two years pay less than many office jobs your friends will have. Nobody who understands the industry pretends otherwise.
What the numbers do say, unambiguously, is that a pilot who starts training in their twenties and reaches a major airline by their early thirties will earn well over ten million dollars before mandatory retirement at 65. There are very few careers with that ceiling that can be entered in under three years without a degree.
The Government Numbers
Pilot Pay By Percentile, From The May 2025 BLS Wage Survey
The Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys employers, not pilots, so these figures do not include per diem, retirement contributions or profit sharing. Treat them as the floor of what a pilot at each level actually takes home.
| Percentile | Airline Pilots, Copilots & Flight Engineers | Commercial Pilots (Non-Airline) | Who Is Typically Here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest 10% | Under $106,710 | Under $58,850 | First-year regional first officers · new flight instructors |
| Median (50%) | $232,140 | $123,220 | Regional captains and mid-seniority major first officers · corporate and charter captains |
| Highest 10% | Over $463,830 | Over $266,620 | Senior widebody captains · large-cabin business jet captains |
The same survey projects pilot employment to grow 7 percent from 2025 to 2035, which the BLS classes as much faster than average, and about 16,400 openings a year over that period as the generation hired in the 1980s and 1990s reaches mandatory retirement. That retirement wave is the reason first-year regional pay has roughly tripled in a decade, and it is not finished.
What People Say
5.0 Stars, 85 Reviews
On Google, the same three things come up again and again. The first one is why our graduates are the ones the regionals call back.
★
Instructors Who Actually Teach
The most repeated compliment in our reviews is not the aircraft or the price — it is the debrief, and instructors who have flown the career they are describing.
★
Scheduling That Works
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own means a full-time student flies five or six days a week, which is what gets you to 1,500 hours while the hiring wave is still on.
★
Prices That Don’t Move
The number you enrol at is the number you finish at. Reviewers mention this constantly, and it matters more on an $89,000 program than anywhere else.
Programs And Pricing
The Training That Puts You On The Pay Scale
One number, fixed at enrolment. Aircraft, instructor, ground school, simulator time and books are all inside it. Financing from $2,500 down, with monthly plans available.
Zero To Airline
Airline Pilot Program
$89,000
Private, instrument, commercial, multi-engine and flight instructor certificates, from your first lesson to the day you are hireable.
- Every certificate and rating the airlines requireIncluded
- Redbird full-motion simulatorIncluded
- Multi-engine time in the Piper SeminoleIncluded
- Ground school and checkride preparationIncluded
- Books & training materialsIncluded
Commercial Pilot Certificate
$15,900
For pilots who already hold a private certificate and instrument rating and want the certificate that lets them be paid to fly.
- Complex time in the Piper ArrowIncluded
- Commercial manoeuvres and long cross-countriesIncluded
- Ground schoolIncluded
- Books & training materialsIncluded
Standard Private Pilot Program
$10,900
Where every airline career begins: 40 hours logged, flown properly, in the Cessna, Piper and Diamond fleet.
- Single-Engine (Cessna · Piper · Diamond)38 hrs
- Redbird full-motion simulator2 hrs
- Dual flight instruction30 hrs
- Ground school3 hrs
- Books & training materialsIncluded
Also available: Comprehensive Private Pilot $15,900 · Premium Private Pilot (Cirrus SR22 Turbo) $22,500 · Instrument Rating $11,700 · Multi-Engine add-on $5,100 · Sport Pilot $8,400. Enrolled students train on package pricing at $179 an hour, wet, single-engine.
Back to School: $500 off any private pilot program through 30 September 2026. Standard $10,400 · Comprehensive $15,400 · Premium $22,000. Ask when you enroll.
Getting Started
The Pay Scale Starts With One Lesson
Every captain earning $465 an hour took a first lesson once. If the numbers on this page have you thinking seriously, the next step is sixty minutes in the aircraft — or an hour with an instructor who has flown the career and can tell you plainly whether it fits you.
Free Consultation
$0
Sit down with an instructor, go through the timeline on this page against your own age, finances and goals, and get an honest answer.
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Discovery Flight For One
$229 / 60 min
Lesson one, logged as dual instruction — the first of the 1,500 hours. Credited in full against any program if you enrol within 24 hours.
Redbird Simulator Session
$189 / 1 hr
Full-motion and FAA-approved. Fly an instrument approach before you have ever left the ground.
Next Step
Thirty Years On The Pay Scale Begins With Sixty Minutes In The Aircraft
Book a discovery flight, find out whether you love it, and let the $229 come off your program when you enrol. Or call (818) 290-8249, 9am to 9pm, seven days, and ask for an instructor who has flown for an airline. We have several.
Discovery Flight For One
$229
60 minutes · you fly the aircraft · fully loggable · credited on enrolment
FAQ
Pilot Salary Questions
The questions prospective students ask us about the money, answered with the 2026 numbers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median airline pilot at $232,140 a year in May 2025, and the median non-airline commercial pilot at $123,220. The range underneath those medians is wide: a first-year regional first officer earns roughly $85,000 to $110,000, a first-year major airline first officer $92,000 to $105,000 at guarantee, and a twelve-year widebody captain at Delta, United or American $363,000 to $407,000 before retirement contributions and profit sharing.
In 2026 the published rates run from $92.73 an hour for a first-year SkyWest first officer to $483.74 an hour for a twelve-year United widebody captain. First-year first officers at the three largest US airlines are paid $113 to $125.52 an hour. The hour is a credit hour of flying, not an hour at work, and pilots typically credit 75 to 90 of them a month against a contractual guarantee of 65 to 76.
A first-year regional first officer earns about $85,000 to $110,000 in 2026. SkyWest pays $92.73 an hour on a 76-hour guarantee, roughly $84,600 base before per diem and premium flying; Envoy pays $99 an hour. A first-year regional captain at SkyWest earns $144.24 an hour, about $131,500, rising to $197 an hour by year twelve. A decade ago the same first officer job paid under $40,000.
The BLS median for commercial pilots outside the airlines was $123,220 in May 2025, with the lowest ten percent under $58,850 and the highest ten percent above $266,620. That category covers charter, corporate, cargo feeder, survey and instructing jobs, so the spread is enormous. A new flight instructor is at the bottom of it and a senior large-cabin business jet captain is at the top.
Most flight instructors are paid per hour of instruction given, commonly $30 to $60, which works out to roughly $40,000 to $70,000 in a busy year at a school that flies year round. Instructing is the first flying job for most airline pilots, and the pay is secondary to the point of it: building the 1,500 hours the airlines require, which a full-time instructor in Southern California can do in 12 to 24 months.
Typically three to four years from the first lesson. Training to the flight instructor certificate takes 12 to 18 months full time, instructing to 1,500 hours takes another 12 to 24 months, and the first regional airline year pays $85,000 to $110,000. Pilots who move to a major airline within a few more years are earning $150,000 to $250,000 as first officers and $300,000 or more as captains.
At the top end they are on a par. FedEx and UPS pay on a scale similar to Delta, United and American, and their first-year first officers start higher, at roughly $105,000. Cargo flying is more often at night and the schedules differ, but the widebody captain pay at the big cargo carriers is comparable to the passenger majors.
Because every airline pilot contract is a single collective agreement covering everyone from the newest first officer to the most senior captain, and the pay table has only two axes: years at the company and aircraft flown. Your seniority number, which is your hire date, decides your aircraft, seat, base, schedule and pay. This is why pilots aim to be hired at their long-term airline as early as possible: every year earlier is a year further up the list for the next thirty.
On current numbers, yes, with caveats. The Airline Pilot Program at Van Nuys is $89,000, and a first-year regional first officer earns $85,000 to $110,000, so the entire training cost is about one year of the first airline salary. A pilot who reaches a major airline by their early thirties will earn well over ten million dollars before mandatory retirement at 65. The caveats are that hiring runs in waves, the first two years pay less than many office jobs, and a medical certificate has to be maintained for the whole career.
The forces behind the last decade of increases are still in place. The BLS projects pilot employment to grow 7 percent from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average occupation, with about 16,400 openings a year as the generation hired in the 1980s and 1990s reaches mandatory retirement. Contracts signed at the majors in 2023 and 2024 include scheduled raises through 2026 and beyond, and no major US airline contract has cut pay rates in that period.
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The three private pilot packages, what each one includes, the financing options and a realistic timeline built around how often you can actually fly. Sent to you in one email. Nobody will pressure you.
- Every package price, itemised
- Financing from $2,500 down
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Loved On Google
Eighty-Five Reviews. 5.0 Stars.
Every review below is real and shown verbatim, in the reviewer’s own words — written by the people who learned to fly here, not by us.
SAFETY FIRST
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
★★★★★
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
★★★★★
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
★★★★★
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
★★★★★
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
★★★★★
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
★★★★★
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
★★★★★
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
★★★★★
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
SAFETY FIRST
★★★★★
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
★★★★★
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
★★★★★
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
★★★★★
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
★★★★★
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
★★★★★
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
★★★★★
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
★★★★★
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
★★★★★
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
See Discovery Flight Details — $229
Reviews shown verbatim, exactly as each reviewer published them.
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Van Nuys, CA 91406 Get directions →
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