AVERAGE pilot pay in BA is most definitely NOT £100,000 gross!
Regrettably it is the figure which always seems to spring to people's minds and especially the downmarket newspapers.
I am sorry but I think it is totally inappropriate to be discussing what I or any of my colleagues earn. A few years ago we were benchmarked against comparable European airlines and we were found to be way below the line in general. A successful negotiation and restructuring of our pay scales brought us up to benchmark or thereabouts.
Pilot costs are a fact of life. I am privileged to be in a career where I have eventually reached a very comfortable salary. Just like surgeons, doctors, lawyers, judges and numerous other very experienced people and also after years of hard work and hard won experience. I am also doing something which, as a captain of a public transport airliner, carries a great deal of responsibility.
For some reason everybody and his dog wishes to start an airline. Heaven knows why when it is a notoriously difficult business to even make a profit from let alone a large profit. The likes of Ryanair and, to a lesser extent, Easyjet in the UK have forced airlines to cut costs or sink. In doing so the product (air travel) has suffered and will continue to plummet downwards in a race to the bottom. Legacy carriers such as BA, like all big and established large organisations do not adapt well and often sink in the process.
BA may well go bust. If it does the experience of air travel with carriers that are left will not improve but you can bet your bottom dollar the prices charged will rapidly increase.