Article with interesting pilot pay stats...

flyingcheesehead said:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/170295-airlines-some-costs-they-can-t-and-shouldn-t-cut?source=yahoo
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It's my understanding that pilot wages are #2 (behind fuel cost) on the list of airline expenses so is does seem plausible that cutting benefit and salaries will always be one target of airline management in their efforts to make a profit. As to the measure tabulated in this article (pilot cost per seat-hour) I fail to see much value beyond mild sensationalism. Seems a lot like 'driver pay per freight pound - hour" in the trucking industry. Is that a useful metric given the variations in mile per hour and lbs per cubic foot?
 
gismo said:
As to the measure tabulated in this article (pilot cost per seat-hour) I fail to see much value beyond mild sensationalism. Seems a lot like 'driver pay per freight pound - hour" in the trucking industry. Is that a useful metric given the variations in mile per hour and lbs per cubic foot?
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No kidding. If you use pilot cost per seat hour I'm grossly overpaid compared to major airline captains. Keep in mind the airplane only has 9 passenger seats. :blush:
 
gismo said:
It's my understanding that pilot wages are #2 (behind fuel cost) on the list of airline expenses so is does seem plausible that cutting benefit and salaries will always be one target of airline management in their efforts to make a profit.
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Yeah, but cheap fuel doesn't fall asleep...

As to the measure tabulated in this article (pilot cost per seat-hour) I fail to see much value beyond mild sensationalism. Seems a lot like 'driver pay per freight pound - hour" in the trucking industry. Is that a useful metric given the variations in mile per hour and lbs per cubic foot?
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I took it as a way to normalize things a bit over the wide variety in the fleets, and changes in the fleets over the years.

As for "driver pay per freight pound-hour," well, most trucks are pretty much the same size. I get paid the same (per mile) whether I'm hauling a full load of paper or canned food (~45,000 pounds) or whether I'm hauling a full load of industrial fans or ramen noodles (~10,000 pounds) or even if I have a single pallet or box in a mostly-empty trailer (~3,000 pounds or less). Converting your "driver pay per freight pound - hour" back to airlines would be like paying the airline pilots by the number of people that actually flew on a particular flight (Can you imagine the pilots standing at the door collecting a 5-spot from each passenger as they board? :hairraise:)

Of course, drivers of smaller trucks and drivers that do shorter hauls get paid less, very similar to pilots... I think a better analogy to the pilot cost per seat-hour used in the article would be driver pay per cubic foot-mile which is not altogether different from reality.
 
gismo said:
It's my understanding that pilot wages are #2 (behind fuel cost) on the list of airline expenses so is does seem plausible that cutting benefit and salaries will always be one target of airline management in their efforts to make a profit. ...
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Total LABOR cost not PILOT wages is the #2 expense. Pilot costs is actually a fairly small part of that. Especially widebody domestic flying with only two pilots.

I wonder why he didn't also express the cost in terms of the industry standard measurement of Cost per Available Seat Mile (CASM). Either way, I figure somebody is skimming from my paycheck cause I don't make near what he says I make.
 
Did I read the stats correctly? If the average fare per seat per hour is $3.73 and the airplane is carrying 100 passengers doesn't that equate to $373/hour? Higher if you are carrying more people.

Isn't that like $37,000 per month if you fly the maximum allowable of 100 hours in a month?

Naw, can't be right.
 
"Cockpit wage cost", so at the minimum divide by two, and probably account for FICA, etc.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yeah, but cheap fuel doesn't fall asleep...
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But it might put the engine "to sleep":D


I took it as a way to normalize things a bit over the wide variety in the fleets, and changes in the fleets over the years.
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I'm just saying that it "normalizes" virtually all the useful information out of the picture. Then again we're talking statistics here. Hiding/contorting useful information is the norm.

As for "driver pay per freight pound-hour," well, most trucks are pretty much the same size. I get paid the same (per mile) whether I'm hauling a full load of paper or canned food (~45,000 pounds) or whether I'm hauling a full load of industrial fans or ramen noodles (~10,000 pounds) or even if I have a single pallet or box in a mostly-empty trailer (~3,000 pounds or less). Converting your "driver pay per freight pound - hour" back to airlines would be like paying the airline pilots by the number of people that actually flew on a particular flight (Can you imagine the pilots standing at the door collecting a 5-spot from each passenger as they board? :hairraise:)
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You're making my point. Pilot pay per passenger-hour provides little if any meaning full information unless the pilots were paid on that basis.
 
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