S o, let’s talk about money because, as Danny DeVito’s character once said in the 2001 movie Heist , “Everybody needs money—that’s why they call it money.” The business aviation sector is navigating significant changes, especially concerning pilot and wider flight department salaries. The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has reported a notable 12 percent increase in wages for senior captain, captain, and first officer positions from 2022 to 2023. For comparison, recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that measure payroll, private industry compensation has grown only 4.5 percent in the past 12 months, which means pilots across the board have been equipped with the economic power to outclimb both high inflation and high interest rates that have grounded many other professionals. PILOT SHORTAGE DRIVING HIGHER WAGES? Much of this stems from the nose-high limits with which airline pilots’ salaries climbed last year as pilot unions exercised leverage over airlines to boost pay. Though the unions would describe it differently, the bargaining power they’ve wielded has collectively come from a tangible pilot shortage unable to meet the public demand for commercial and even business travel. Let’s be clear—
the steep increase in pilot pay and benefits is linked to an embedded pilot deficit. To that end, pilots have been experiencing a windfall like no other. As mentioned, it’s not just good news for airline pilots and workers. Business aviation is also raking it in. Christopher Broyhill, an aviation compensation expert and NBAA Business Aviation Management Committee member, has been at the forefront of analyzing these salary trends. Broyhill says there is increasing “wage pressure” for business aviation as a result of recent, more lucrative contracts from major airlines like Delta and American. “When I advise clients on compensation levels, I map business aviation compensation versus airline compensation, and the results aren’t pretty,” Broyhill says. “A pilot can join Delta Air Lines, upgrade to captain in five years, and make over $400,000 to show up and fly an aircraft. With the new American [Airlines] contract, that same pilot can make $450,000 in about six years. More than anything else, it is the economic law of supply and demand. The pilot shortage is real, and you see it manifested when pilot compensation is rising—less supply, more demand, higher pricing. There are fewer pilots than there are cockpit seats, and that condition will worsen before it gets better.” Broyhill points out other factors that are making the pilot shortage worse. One is the fact that “the military isn’t creating pilots like it used to,” and second, most people
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