The Cost of Increasing Instruictor Pay
I'm an instructor, and I've worked at three different schools. When I'm instructing the only thought I have of money is towards making the best use of the student's training money. I know that attitude comes through to my students because before I changed schools I got comments like "I hate everything else about this school, but I came here because I wanted to train with you."
I don't know how you are paid, but this is the model in Canada. In round numbers, the student pays $100 per hour for the airplane and $40 per hour for the instructor. Of that, the instructor gets $20, before taxes. Instructors are paid based only on billable hours, the sum of briefing time and aircraft time. You don't fly, you don't eat.
The employers could pay us more without vastly increasing the student's training costs. Lets say that an employer decides to pay twice as much as any school in the area. Assuming comparable aircraft and facilities, he now has the choice of all the best flight instructors. How much does doubling instructor pay increase the student's bill?
The student at the old school takes an hour of instruction with 0.2 hours briefing and pays $148 for the lesson. The school takes $28 profit on the instruction and the instructor takes $28 home.
The student with the well-paid instructor pays $176 for the same lesson. The school makes the same $28 profit on the instructor, the instructor makes $56.
The second student paid 19% more for his lesson. Some students would pay that premium just to know that their school is putting its money where its mouth is to acquire the very best flight instructors. And the student may make up a good portion of that premium in requireing fewer hours to complete the licence.
This assumes that there are good instructors out there, that they will want to work for the best paying school, and that the employer can identify the best instructors in order to hire them.