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As the business aviation industry continues to face a workforce shortage, salaries are pushing up, with several positions up by double digits and at least one position experiencing a 30 percent increase, according to the 2018 NBAA Compensation Survey. NBAA found an average of 3 to 4 percent increase across the 16 positions involved in the survey. The cash compensation for non-flying aviation department managers jumped 30 percent, to $205,000; maintenance foremen were up 14 percent, to $127,000; and senior captains' salaries climbed 12 percent, to $164,000, the survey data indicates.
“The survey shows that our members are adjusting and keeping up with industry trends,” said Peter Korns, NBAA’s manager of tax, operations, and workforce engagement. “As our industry continues to work to attract and retain quality talent, we are seeing real efforts to fairly compensate pilots and mechanics who might otherwise seek out alternative opportunities.”
Korns added that the survey was largely in line with expectations. But not all salaries increased. “We see some significant decreases in dispatcher and line service personnel salaries—down 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively—which is cause for further analysis,” he said.
The survey, which has been ongoing since the late 1960s, included two new questions—one involving whether a company uses sign-on bonuses and another regarding tracking of flight and duty hours, including weekend work or remain overnight (RON) stays. More than half answered yes to the bonus question for pilot, maintenance, and aviation management roles. But this dipped below half for flight attendants, dispatchers, and line service personnel. The second question was to ensure legitimacy in recorded hours, NBAA explained.
This year’s survey marked its largest data set to date, encompassing 790 NBAA operating member companies that provided data for 4,130 employees.
As the business aviation industry continues to face a workforce shortage, salaries are pushing up, with several positions up by double digits and at least one position category experiencing a 30 percent increase, according to the 2018 NBAA Compensation Survey.
NBAA, which has conducted surveys on aviation department salaries since the late 1960s, released the results of the 2018 edition in late August. This year’s survey marked its largest data set to date, encompassing 790 NBAA operating member companies that provided data for 4,130 employees.
NBAA found an average of 3 to 4 percent increases across the 16 positions involved in the survey. The total cash compensation for non-flying aviation department managers jumped 30 percent, to $205,000 (numbers are rounded); maintenance foremen were up 14 percent, to $127,000; and senior captains' cash compensation climbed 12 percent, to $164,000, the survey data indicates.
“The survey shows that our members are adjusting and keeping up with industry trends,” said Peter Korns, NBAA’s manager of tax, operations, and workforce engagement. “As our industry continues to work to attract and retain quality talent, we are seeing real efforts to fairly compensate pilots and mechanics who might otherwise seek out alternative opportunities.”
Korns added that the survey was largely in line with expectations.
But not all salaries increased. “We see some significant decreases in dispatcher and line service personnel salaries—down 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively—which is cause for further analysis,” he said. The total cash compensation for a licensed dispatcher averaged almost $90,000, while line service personnel averaged just under $47,000.
For aviation department managers who do some flying, total cash compensation was just a little lower than their non-flying counterparts, averaging $197,000. This category represented the majority of the aviation department managers, with salaries of 368 factored in the survey. By contrast, the number of non-flying managers accounted for in the survey came in at 38.
Chief pilots, meanwhile, made an average $154,000 in total cash compensation, based on 515 salaries. The largest group measured was captains at 1,157, with an average of $132,000 in cash compensation. Directors of maintenance salaries averaged $138,000 and A&P technician salaries came in at $99,000. Flight attendant salaries averaged $97,000.
Avionics technicians led the 16 categories for average tenure with their companies (14.6 years) and in their positions (10.2 years). The highest turnover appeared in the co-pilot role, with an average tenure with their companies of 2.7 years and two years in their positions.
The survey was fairly evenly dispersed among company size, although smaller companies, those with less than $100 million in annual sales, made up the second largest category represented at 15.7 percent. The largest category, at 16.3 percent, involved companies with sales between $100 million and $500 million. Companies that bring in sales of more than $10 billion represented 9.3 percent of the survey respondents. Just over half (54.6 percent) of the survey participants have one aircraft, with 7.9 percent having five or more aircraft. The financial, insurance, and banking industry was the largest represented at 12.2 percent.