The Emirates Pilots remuneration is based off a Salary Scale, a Pay per hour component and possibly a Productivity payment if flying above a threshold of around 88 hours in a 31 day month.
The Salary Scale goes from Step 1 to Step 35.
A new joining FO would come in on Step 1. Approx. AED 25,500 (3.675 AED = 1 USD)
Each step is an increment of 3% above the one below thus Step 35 is approx. AED 69,500
Originally the step was awarded regularly each year as it was an increase for Experience, Seniority and Loyalty. The whole salary scale was published annually with the salary review with an explanation on its application. On attaining command an FO jumped 10 steps up the scale. The expected annual step was given consistently until 2004 when it became discretionary. Since then it has not been given on at least 5 years.
If there was a “salary increase” then the whole scale was moved up by the percentage increase while still maintaining the 3% step. The last significant salary increase was 5% in May 2011.
The salary scale has only been increased by 0.5% since May 2011. As such a first year FO joining today will be getting AED 180 more than one joining in May 2011. Hence Emirates has been steadily eroding salary scale through inflation.
On top of the basic salary pilots get paid for the hours they fly. FOs get AED 63.00 per block hour and Captains AED 78.75 per block hour. Assuming an annualized 80 hours per month this would result in flying pay of AED 5,040 for an FO and AED 6,300 for a captain per month.
In 2011 the flying pay was AED 45 and AED 60 respectively making an 80 hr/mth flying pay of AED 3600 and AED 4,800.
Combining the two, an FO joining in May 2011 would be paid AED 28,800 for an 80 hour month. Today he is paid AED 30,500 for an 80 hour month. This represents and increase of 6% in the last 8 years.
The published UAE inflation rates have been around 2% per annum for the same period (varying from 1% to 4%) This compounds to an approx. 20% increase in cost of living since 2011. Many would argue these figures are conservative. They also ignore a 5% VAT introduced in 2018
If remuneration had kept up with inflation, a First Year FO today should be taking home an additional AED 4,000 per month.
The Productivity Pay is awarded for block hours above 85 in a 30 day month and 88 in a 31 day month. When first introduced, the thresholds were 81 hours and 83.7 hours respectively. Productivity is essentially a considerably higher rate of flying pay above these thresholds. It was introduced to reward pilots for hard work and to force rostering systems to balance rosters.
On inception the Productivity Pay system worked well as it was effectively Pro Rated in months when pilots went on leave. I.e. If half the month was spent on leave then the pilots could expect to fly approximately half the hours in the remainder of the month to achieve the productivity threshold, as would reasonably be expected. (EK pro-rates absolutely everything else)
However through various contortions (too complex to explain) this has been removed. Now a pilot who has half the month on leave will still have to fly 85/88 hours before being paid Productivity.
This facet is exploited to its full extent as the company seeks to maximize the hours in any month a pilot has leave because it essentially it does not have to pay for productivity above the pro-rated threshold. It is not unusual to see rosters containing 7-10 days leave still containing up to 85 hours. No Productivity will be paid. The best way to achieve this is roster compression with ULR.
This dynamic distorts both the Bidding System and the Leave System. ULR flights are not given to some pilots who bid for them as they are awarded to others who have leave in the month in order to maximize their productivity. Likewise any pilot would be insane to bid for short periods of leave in a month as he will still have to fly up to 85/88 hours without any additional pay. In effect he/she has given away the leave. As such most pilots bid for the maximum leave in a month as it leaves less opportunity for roster compression on the remaining days. Because of these dynamics, those who might bid for short leave blocks do not, and the leave system struggles to award longer blocks, resulting in less leave satisfaction or simply forced leave.
In summary this distortion of the Productivity Pay system can be likened to a office worker who goes on leave then is expected to work at night to make up the lost hours, with no additional pay.
I’m often incredulous at the various forums and washups that pilots attend with management during which there are multiple complaints of roster dissatisfaction, leave dissatisfaction and fatigue. Promises are made to try and improve the systems. Of course they are futile because the systems cannot be balanced as long as the Productivity Pay system does not account for leave by pro rating the balance of the month. However the company saves tens of millions of AED per annum by this clawback of leave so its unlikely to change any time soon without a complete overhaul of remuneration.
As remuneration should be proportional to work which in turn is proportional to fatigue, the EK remuneration system is at the root of most of the problems in these areas.
In terms of a wholistic overview of the past 2 decades of EK remuneration the following may be of interest:
In May 1999 a first year FO earned AED 16,000. There was no flying pay and this was the monthly take-home even if on leave. With this he could buy 15.5 Oz of gold ($280)
Today a first year FO will earn around AED 30,500 assuming an 80 hour month. With this he can buy 5.9 Oz of Gold ($1400)
Perhaps that puts it in perspective. However this is not unusual to Emirates or even airlines as a whole. This is the dynamic that over the past few decades has resulted in the ever growing transfer of wealth to the richest and ultimately will lead to the unravelling of society as we know it.