CAN BUSINESS AVIATION KEEP UP? Broyhill also highlights a “shortage within the shortage,” where pilots qualified to fly the newest jets, such as the Gulfstream G600, G650, G700, and G800, or the Bombardier Global 7000, 7500, and 8000, are in high demand because of the expensive and challenging training required. “These aircraft are typically purchased by very high net worth individuals and large corporations who can afford to spend top dollar for compensation,” he says. “Once a pilot gets a type rating in one of these aircraft, they become a commodity and are often willing to go to the highest bidder.” Still, Broyhill says those salaries can’t match even what airlines offer. “For a company only paying in the middle of the market, the 50th percentile, that increase was only $12,000 to a base compensation rate of $265,000 annually. But for a company willing to pay at the top of the market (the 75th percentile), that increase was $34,000 to $307,000—a significant difference.” Sheryl Barden, the CEO of Aviation Personnel International and a prominent figure in the business aviation sector, concurs with Broyhill’s analysis. Barden’s firm, positioned as a linchpin in consulting for business aviation, particularly for Part 91 flight departments, is at the forefront of understanding and addressing the evolving HR landscape in the industry. With a finger on the sector’s pulse, Barden, often in collaboration with Broyhill, delves into tailored compensation surveys to keep abreast of the evolving landscape. Their collaborative endeavors aim at equipping Part 91 flight departments with the requisite insights to navigate the turbulent compensation waters. “Business aviation... has seen a 59 percent rise in pilot compensation over the last eight years,” Barden says, underscoring a marked disparity when juxtaposed with the 23 percent and 33 percent increments for maintenance technicians and schedulers, respectively, over the same period. That’s all well and good, but she is quick to question whether business aviation departments might be able to sustain the steep salary increases as they reach dizzying heights in trying to stave off airline attrition. After all, the difference in economics between airlines and corporate flight departments necessitates that the latter accept trade-offs when it comes to salaries. “It is becoming increasingly difficult for a corporation to keep up with the rising need for compensation,” Barden says. “A lot of that is being driven by the airlines. When a pilot moves, it’s often triggered by someone transitioning to the airlines for future compensation prospects. Nobody goes to the airline for compensation today.” This narrative aligns with the broader industry paradigm, where pilots are lured by the airlines’ promise of substantial future earnings, albeit at the cost of creating a vacuum in the business aviation domain. Barden notes the early warnings she delivered on the impending pilot shortage, a discourse she says was met with skepticism initially.
can’t afford flight training. And there’s a third element— instructor turnover. “In the pilot production industry, we tend to ‘eat our own,’ in that pilots who become flight instructors to build time leave those jobs to fly with the airlines or business aviation as soon as they reach the number of hours required and leave the industry with fewer instructors,” he says. But even with an apparent disparity between commercial and private aviation wages, there couldn’t be a more lucrative time to be a pilot. A part of that is the public’s discovery and increasing use of business aviation from the days of the COVID-19 pandemic. That has encouraged OEMs to roll out new and updated jet platforms that are faster, lighter, and quieter. Still, despite the topsy-turvy charter jet market that saw some operators lose their footing, it has presented an opportunity for the leaders in the space to outstretch the competition. In late September, NetJets and Textron Aviation announced they had completed a $30 billion deal to supply NetJets with up to 1,500 Cessna Citation platforms over the next 15 years. Flushed with money, this recent announcement came after NetJets in May said it would purchase 250 Praetor 500 jets from Embraer for approximately $500 billion. All sides of the industry are buzzing, allowing pilots to choose wherever they want to land.
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