Here is another angle about why pilots that are flying heavy metal get paid more. What does it cost in training to replace an FO or a Capt, in comparison to the salary , it is far more important to maintain a steady workforce than to have to retrain a new one every week...by the way we are talking about big jets not fluffies.
Come-on Frogman. Do you seriously believe that a 747 sim costs more to operate than a 737 sim? The base training might be more expensive, but hell, it only happens once.
Why should a 30-year service captain be happy with taking R80K home a month?
Maybe SubsonicMortal because that is a hell of a lot of money........
there is a big myth out there that SAA pilots earn huge salaries, its simply not the case, just get the facts.
Its no myth fluffy, and don't tempt me to post your scales.
Like I said before. I don't believe that anything will be solved by making SAA pilots take a paycut (except maybe wind in their collective overconfident necks
(just joking - many mates there)). The problems at SAA goes way beyond what they pay their pilots. The one thing is true. If SAA salaries are drastically reduced, they will need to train a lot of pilots to replace their experienced crew who WILL leave for more money. That would cost a packet.
My final plea to the SAA drivers. Don't try to justify your salaries. Take your money and buy your Porsches and just keep quiet about it. It solves nothing to get into an argument about how awesome you are and how SAA recognised this from a CV and invited you to an interview. I also know that your dad/uncle/brother/SAAF mate had nothing to do with this. The guys I know in SAA are the usual mix. 99% great guys and 1% completely useless idiots - same as in my current airline.
A word of warning to the SAA doom-prophets. If SAA folded, there would suddenly be 800 highly experienced pilots on the market and you would be stuck in your current job for a long, long time.