Company
TOTAL PACKAGE USD (net)
Annual leave
Consecutive days off each month
free tickets to home country
HKE HKA (737)
9129
16 days (plus12 days public and statutory holidays, see COS)
Maximum 3 DDO consecutive if you put in a roster request as per roster dept policy.
NONE
Air china (737)
11000
28
7 consecutive most months
7 international return p.a
Air India Express (737)
10300
28
14 consecutive every 2 months
6 international return p.a
ANA (737)
18000
30
11 consecutive a month
12 confirmed a year
Asiana (737)
11500
30
16 consecutive every 2 months
8 confirmed p.a plus 18 i.d 90
Cathay Captain (A330)
17450
42
Average has at lease one block of 7 days.
confirmed ticket for entire family
Dragonair (narrow body)
18000
70
not commuting but expect a block of 7 days off.
confirmed ticket for entire family
Fly Dubai (737)
12500
42
not commuting but expect a block of 5 days off.
confirmed ticket for entire family
Hainan (737)
11800
30 (paid extra 9800USD if pilot wishes to sell holidays back to the company)
7
confirmed ticket for entire family
JAL express (737)
12240
20
14 days every 2 months
6 confirmed return tickets p.a
Korean Air (737)
10360
24
11 consecutive per month
12 confirmed business class p.a
Metrojet(light jet)
14200
42
Expect roster with 7 days consecutive a month
confirmed ticket for entire family
Pacific Airlines Vietnam (737)
9500
42
not commuting but expect a block of 5 days off.
confirmed ticket for entire family
Shanghai Airlines (737)
13000
21
14 days every 2 months
confirmed ticket for entire family
Shenzhen Airlines (737)
13000
34
not commuting but expect a block of 4 days off.
confirmed ticket for entire family
Singapore airlines (A330)
14000
42
Expect a block of 5 consecutive.
confirmed ticket for entire family
Skymark (737)
12800
20
9 consecutive each month
confirmed business ticket each MONTH
Qantas (737)
11600
42
not commuting but expect a block of 7 days off.
N/A
Jet airways (737)
9700
15
14 consecutive every2 months
confirmed ticket for entire family
Deer Air (A320)
11833
30
14 consecutive every 2 months
free on Network, unlimited i.d 75
Tianjin (Emb 190)
10625
30
not commuting but expect a block of 4 days off.
not sure probably
Oman Air (737)
11000
30
not commuting but expect a block of 6 days off.
Staff travel on Hainan
Silk Air (A319)
14200
30?
not sure
confirmed ticket for entire family
278608
AVERAGE (not inc hke/a)
12664.00
· These are Captains contracts. All are narrow body contracts besides Cathay and Singapore which were included for location comparison.
· Companies used in this survey were random companies currently hiring. They were not chosen for there high salary and represent a good comparison of aircraft type and geographic location.
· These figures are not fiction; they are fact and can be verified by viewing the various pilot contracts from the various employment agencies.
· All companies listed are in the Asia pacific area and 2 from the Middle East . All companies do similar flying to Hong Kong Express and Airlines.
· Annual leave is separate to consecutive days off. If a company allows consecutive days off it is in addition to annual leave.
· When consecutive days off are given to the pilot, they are free, not a combination of DDO and annual leave. For example Asiana pilots would get 6 lots of 16 consecutive days off per year, PLUS 30 days annual leave.
· Total package includes net salary, housing and completion bonus only, other benefits such as loss of license insurance, schooling, good health cover,15% provident fund etc, are in most cases given but not included in this calculation for simplification.
· Salary/package is AFTER tax.
· *If hourly pay is part of the package this survey is based on 60 hours a month.
· Almost all companies above provide EXCELLENT 5 star accommodation on layovers, with the exception of the Hainan group, HKE/HKA, and perhaps Shenzhen Airlines.
· *Crew hotels are usually chosen carefully as companies realize that staff satisfaction is important and so is good health and rest. These Hotels usually serve western food at the hotel with a room service option for those 1 am arrivals. Hotels have at least 1 English TV channel but usually 10 or more, unlike Hong Kong Airlines and Express provided hotels which have no English speaking channels. I ask you would you be satisfied personally with a hotel that only served really bad food from Iceland (say pickled Herring) and the only language on television was Iranian or something you did not understand? Because that is my life every time I stay at one of our hotels.
· Hotel usually located in a good location with option to eat at western style restaurant near the hotel. At most Hong Kong Airlines and Express locations they only have local restaurants of questionable quality in the area. One KFC or McDonalds a 10 minute walk away does not qualify as a "western restaurant"
· Overnight allowances in most contracts above is double that given Hong Kong Express and Airlines.
· Many of these packages are here just for reference and actually bring the average of all salaries down. I.e. Indian contracts which can not even compare to Hong Kong cost of living.
· Our companies only provide 16 annual leave days per year. Not 28 as most people think. (12 of the 28 are public and statutory holidays. They are included in annual leave giving a total of 28. See section 4.2 of our conditions of service(COS)
· Hong Kong Airlines and Express are the only companies in this survey that do not offer free travel home each year.
· Good provident funds pay 10% of salary. Several contracts pay this and up to 15% of basic salary. Our company does contribute extra compared to Hong Kong minimums but it low compared to the average of the airlines.
· To our package up to the average of this survey would require at least 40% PAY RISE.
· Hong Kong according to several surveys is the most expensive city in the world for expatriates to live, even higher than Tokyo for housing. We are Expatriates. No locals.
· As Singapore , Hong Kong and Tokyo have similar high costs of living, the average salary for airlines in these cities is $15,111 USD net
· *Hong Kong Airlines and Express current salary would require a 78% payrise to equal the average net salary for “high cost cities.”.
ANA (737)
18000
Cathay first year Captain (A330)
17450
Dragonair (narrow body)
18000
Metrojet(light jet)
14200
JAL express (737)
12240
Singapore airlines (A330)
14000
Skymark (737)
12800
Silk Air (A319)
14200
120890
AVERAGE net salary
15111.25
*Average excluding widebody operators is $14,906
The info above has been circulating around for a few months so that HKA/HKE captains could compare their contracts with other airlines.