Surely Not,
I will have to agree with you on this. Of course, salaries are based on local economic conditions, cost of living and so many other local factors.
I've heard that China Eastern Airlines MD-11 pilots in the 1990s were paid roughly USD 1,000 per month if Im not mistaken. Back then, it was probably a good renumeration considering the local cost of living. I would assume they got a reasonable allowance for foreign travel. If this Chinese pilot would move to California, say, he would have significantly higher expenses such as education for children, housing, etc,etc, etc.
Virgin Nigeria is not a charity. It is a privately-owned business entity and as such it is out there to turn in profits to its shareholders which include Nigerian institutional investors. Just because the Virgin brand is implicated, doesn't mean local salaries in Nigeria for permanent cockpit crew positions ought to be similar to those salaries in the US or Europe. Contract pilots are required, and are justifiably paid higer because it's a short term contract, positions which will expire once Nigerian pilots are type-rated on the A340 for example. Can you think of any British pilot who would want to locate to Nigeria for 6 months or a year, earning a fraction of what he does back home???? NO. So this is basically an arrangement to get Virgin Nigeria off the ground at a time the government is pressuring it to expand quickly.
Let us all remember, the game is different at start-up. Give it some time, a couple of years, and the roster will be entirely Nigerian or mostly Nigerian, and pay levels will surely rise as Virgin Nigeria starts to break even by 2007.
However, I agree with some that Virgin Nigeria should not have misled the public into believing expatriate Nigerian pilots would move back to Nigeria to live the same lifestyle they enjoyed in the West or elsewhere.....it was only a
PR mistake which they need to rectify somehow.