Regional Pilot vs Airline Pilot Salary: What Can You Earn?
One of the most common questions from people considering a professional pilot career is:
“How much can pilots earn?”
The answer depends on a number of factors, including the type of flying you do, the aircraft you fly, your experience, your position and your seniority.
There is a particularly significant difference between the earnings of a pilot beginning their professional career in a small charter aircraft and those of an experienced airline captain.
For someone considering the cost of professional pilot training, it is therefore important to look at the long-term earning potential, rather than simply asking what a newly qualified pilot will earn.
In Australia, experienced wide body airline pilots can earn $500,000 or more per year, while airline First Officers can potentially earn around $150,000 or more as they gain experience and seniority.
Regional airline pilots can also earn very good professional salaries, with experienced Captains potentially earning around $180,000, while First Officer salaries can reach around $100,000 or more, depending on the airline and circumstances.
These figures are indicative rather than guaranteed salaries. Actual remuneration varies significantly between employers, aircraft types, seniority, allowances and employment agreements.
Airline Pilots Generally Have the Highest Earning Potential
At the upper end of the Australian pilot market are experienced airline Captains, particularly those flying larger aircraft for major airlines.
An experienced wide body international airline Captain can potentially earn $500,000+ per year, with some senior positions offering considerably more depending on the airline, aircraft, roster and overall remuneration package.
This is a long-term career outcome, however.
A newly qualified commercial pilot does not walk out of flight school and into a $250,000 airline position.
It takes years of experience, additional qualifications, professional development and progression.
That is one of the most important things for aspiring pilots to understand.
Pilot salaries increase substantially as your career develops.
What Can an Airline First Officer Earn?
The First Officer is the second pilot on the flight deck and works alongside the Captain to operate the aircraft safely.
An airline First Officer can potentially earn around $150,000 or more, particularly as they gain experience and seniority.
However, salaries vary considerably between airlines and aircraft types.
A newly appointed First Officer may start at a lower salary and progress through a series of pay scales as their experience and seniority increase.
Over time, an airline pilot can progress through:
Junior First Officer
↓
Experienced First Officer
↓
Senior First Officer
↓
Captain
The move to Captain represents not only a significant increase in responsibility but potentially a substantial increase in earnings.
What Can a Regional Airline Pilot Earn?
Regional airlines provide an important part of Australia’s aviation network.
They operate smaller aircraft and connect regional communities with major cities and other destinations.
Experienced regional airline Captains can potentially earn around $180,000 per year, while First Officers can potentially earn around $100,000 or more depending on the operator and their level of experience.
These figures are indicative rather than fixed industry salaries.
The actual remuneration can vary depending on:
- Airline
- Aircraft type
- Seniority
- Experience
- Roster
- Allowances
- Employment agreement
Regional airline flying can therefore provide a very good professional career in its own right.
For some pilots, it is also an important stepping stone towards larger airlines.
Regional Airline Flying Can Be an Excellent Career
It’s important not to interpret “regional” as meaning that it is somehow an inferior career.
Regional airlines provide pilots with valuable professional experience.
You may gain experience in:
- Multi-engine aircraft
- Turboprop or regional jet operations
- Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)
- Controlled airspace
- Multi-crew operations
- Passenger operations
- Airline procedures
- Weather decision-making
For pilots who eventually want to fly for a major airline, this experience can be extremely valuable.
For others, regional airline flying may simply be the type of flying they enjoy most.
Business Jet Pilots
Corporate and business aviation can also provide attractive career opportunities.
Corporate pilots may fly aircraft ranging from relatively small turboprops to sophisticated long-range business jets.
At the upper end of the market, experienced business jet Captains can earn very attractive salaries.
However, the range is extremely wide.
A pilot flying a small corporate turboprop cannot realistically be compared with a highly experienced Captain operating a large international business jet.
As with airlines, the highest-paying corporate positions generally require:
- Significant experience
- Multi-engine experience
- Instrument qualifications
- Turbine experience
- Experience on sophisticated aircraft
- Strong professional references
- Excellent operational skills
These are generally career progression positions, rather than jobs for newly qualified CPL holders.
Air Ambulance and Specialist Aviation
There are also specialist areas of aviation that can provide rewarding and potentially well-paid careers.
These include:
- Air ambulance
- Medical transport
- Search and rescue
- Government aviation
- Police aviation
- Firefighting
- Offshore operations
- Specialist charter
Some of these positions are highly competitive and may require substantial experience and specialised qualifications.
They can nevertheless be excellent careers for pilots who want something different from conventional airline flying.
Charter Pilots Generally Earn Less
This is an important part of the salary picture.
A commercial pilot flying a small charter aircraft carrying passengers or freight will generally earn considerably less than an airline pilot.
This can include pilots flying:
- Single-engine aircraft
- Twin-engine aircraft
- Small turboprops
- Freight aircraft
- Passenger charter
- Remote-area operations
For a newly qualified commercial pilot, these jobs can nevertheless be extremely valuable.
Why?
Because they’re where you build experience.
Why Would a Pilot Choose a Lower-Paying Charter Job?
Money isn’t the only consideration when choosing a flying career.
Some pilots genuinely prefer charter flying to airline operations.
Modern airline aircraft are highly automated and pilots operate within very structured systems and procedures.
Charter flying can be much more hands-on.
You might:
- Fly smaller aircraft
- Visit remote locations
- Land at smaller airstrips
- Make more independent operational decisions
- Deal directly with passengers
- Carry freight
- Manage changing weather conditions
- Experience a greater variety of flying
For some pilots, this is exactly what they love about aviation.
They may be earning less than an airline pilot but enjoying the flying more.
Some Pilots Prefer Flying to Managing Systems
This is an interesting distinction.
Airline flying offers many attractions:
- Excellent earning potential
- Large sophisticated aircraft
- International travel
- Professional career progression
- Highly structured operations
- Advanced technology
But some pilots are attracted to aviation because they want to fly aircraft, rather than spend their career in highly automated airline operations.
For those pilots, charter, regional and specialist aviation can be extremely rewarding.
There isn’t one “correct” pilot career.
Why Does Aircraft Type Affect Salary?
The aircraft you fly can have a major influence on your earning potential.
Consider the difference between:
A single-engine training aircraft
and
A large commercial jet.
The larger and more complex the aircraft, the greater the technical knowledge, training, experience and responsibility required.
This is one reason experienced pilots flying large commercial aircraft can command significantly higher salaries.
It is also why career progression often involves moving through different types of aircraft.
A pilot may progress from:
Single-engine piston aircraft
↓
Multi-engine piston aircraft
↓
Turboprop
↓
Regional jet
↓
Narrow-body airline jet
↓
Large commercial aircraft
The exact pathway varies between pilots.
Experience Is One of the Biggest Factors
A pilot with 250 hours and a CPL is in a very different position from a pilot with 5,000 hours of professional experience.
The newly qualified pilot may be looking for their first professional flying position.
The experienced pilot may be qualified to fly sophisticated multi-engine turbine aircraft.
As experience increases, so does the range of jobs available.
This is why a pilot’s career trajectory is more important than their starting salary.
Seniority Matters Too
Two pilots working for the same airline can potentially earn different salaries because they have different levels of seniority.
As pilots progress through an airline, they may become eligible for:
- Higher salary scales
- More desirable aircraft
- Better rosters
- Preferred routes
- Senior First Officer positions
- Captain positions
Seniority can therefore have a significant influence on long-term earnings.
A Broad Picture of Pilot Earning Potential
Rather than focusing on exact salaries, it is useful to think about the Australian pilot market in broad tiers.
| Career | Indicative earning potential |
| Entry-level charter / commercial pilot | Lower |
| Experienced charter / specialist pilot | Moderate |
| Regional airline First Officer | Up to around $90K+ |
| Regional airline Captain | Up to around $150K+ |
| Corporate / business jet pilot | Moderate to high |
| Airline First Officer | Around $150K+ possible |
| Experienced major airline Captain | $250K+ possible |
These figures are indicative earning potential, not guaranteed salaries.
Some pilots will earn less, while experienced pilots in particular roles may earn considerably more.
The airline, aircraft, seniority, roster, allowances and employment agreement can all make a significant difference.
The Journey to the Higher Salaries Takes Time
If you are considering pilot training because you have seen that experienced airline pilots can earn $250,000 or more, it is important to understand how you get there.
You don’t graduate from flight school and immediately become an airline Captain.
A typical career progression might look something like:
Commercial Pilot Licence
↓
Multi-Engine & Instrument Rating
↓
First Professional Flying Job
↓
Build Flight Experience
↓
Regional / Charter / Specialist Flying
↓
Airline First Officer
↓
Build Experience & Seniority
↓
Airline Captain
Each step requires further development.
Your First Flying Job May Not Be Your Dream Job
This is completely normal.
Your first job after obtaining your CPL might involve flying a small aircraft carrying passengers or freight.
It may not pay a huge salary.
But it can provide something extremely valuable:
Experience.
You are building the professional flight hours and operational experience that will make you competitive for the next opportunity.
Many successful airline pilots have started their careers flying small aircraft in regional areas.
Building Experience While Getting Paid to Fly
One of the advantages of professional aviation is that you don’t necessarily need to pay for every hour required to progress your career.
Once you obtain your CPL and secure professional employment, you can build flight experience while being paid to fly.
This is particularly important because reaching the experience levels required for senior airline positions would be extremely expensive if you had to purchase every flight hour yourself.
Your early career is therefore about more than earning a salary.
It’s about accumulating:
- Flight hours
- Professional experience
- Aircraft experience
- Multi-engine experience
- IFR experience
- Multi-crew experience
- Operational decision-making
- Industry knowledge
All of these contribute to your future career opportunities.
Why Become a Pilot?
If your only objective is to find a high-paying career, there are probably easier ways to make money.
Professional pilot training requires a significant investment of time and money.
You also need to maintain medical certification, undertake recurrent training and accept the responsibilities that come with operating an aircraft.
But for people who genuinely love aviation, the rewards can be considerable.
You can have a career where:
- You’re not sitting behind a desk every day.
- You’re operating sophisticated technology.
- You’re constantly learning.
- You’re working with other aviation professionals.
- You’re travelling.
- You’re making important decisions.
- Your workplace is literally thousands of metres above the ground.
And, with experience and progression, the financial rewards can become very attractive as well.
There Isn’t Just One Successful Pilot Career
The airline Captain earning $250,000+ isn’t necessarily the only definition of success.
One pilot may dream of commanding a large international airliner.
Another may want to fly corporate jets.
Another may love regional charter flying.
Another may become a highly experienced flight instructor.
Another may work in air ambulance or specialist aviation.
The best career is ultimately the one that matches your interests, personality and ambitions.
Think About the Long-Term Career, Not Just the First Salary
When you’re deciding whether professional pilot training is worth the investment, don’t focus solely on what you’ll earn immediately after graduating.
Think about where the qualification can take you over the next 10, 20 or 30 years.
A typical professional pilot may progress from a relatively modest first salary to a very substantial income as experience and seniority increase.
The important thing is to build a strong foundation.
Get the right training.
Build experience.
Continue learning.
Gain additional qualifications.
Take opportunities as they arise.
Then let your career develop.
Start Your Professional Pilot Journey With ANAC
At Australian National Airline College, we believe prospective pilots should understand the complete career pathway before committing to professional flight training.
The Commercial Pilot Licence is a major milestone, but it is only the beginning of your professional flying career.
Your first job may be in charter or regional aviation. You may then progress into airline, corporate or specialist flying as you build experience.
And if your ultimate goal is to become an airline Captain, the potential financial rewards can be substantial—with experienced International Wide Body Captains potentially earning $500,000 or more per year.
But the most important thing is to choose aviation because you genuinely want to fly.
The money can be an excellent reward for a career you love—but the love of flying should come first.
If you’re considering becoming a professional pilot, talk to Australian National Airline College about the training pathway, the qualifications you’ll need and the career opportunities that can follow your CPL.
Check here : https://flying-school.com/