Originally Posted by
Abroad145
First-year regional salary is always a challenge in the US even for local guys. When I started it was $38 per hour.
Most regionals have a signing bonus. Probably factor that into your budget as well.
Allow two years for captain upgrade.
You need to bring enough money with you from Australia maybe 20-30K AU to cover lean times and to set yourself up.
You will need a car eventually.
2nd year FO life gets easier, 75 hours is a min guarantee. Usually, there is the opportunity to make more money on overtime 200% or 300% rates depending on how hard you want to work.
In my first year, I usually would bid for lines that credited 90 hours. It was fatiguing though.
$20k -$30k is a fair bit of money to have… don’t think a lot people might have that sort of cash lying around unless they pretty much sell their stuff here and be sure of making it through type and line training.
Also post Covid the amount of sign on bonuses have reduced significantly. I remember C5 and some others offering bonuses upto $60k spread over 2-3 years.