Primarily recognition, I would suggest, but also self-esteem.
When you are given the responsibility of being in charge of a corporation on whose success depends the lives of circa 200/300 people and (potentially) millions of pounds/dollars of liability then I think this says something about how much people trust you to make the right decisions.
Yes the money is nice but I believe that if you can retire from an aviation career having made it to command you feel a great sense of achievement.