A career in Europe or US?

[Boeing4ever]

Hello everyone,

I am currently studying A-Levels in the UK for one year before finishing my high school education in Italy. Where to go after graduation is becoming an ever more important question in my head. I'm also a glider pilot, and my career goal is to fly professionally - be it airlines, corporate, charter or whatever.

I am both a US and German (thus EU) citizen, and have grown up on both sides of the Atlantic. I'm therefore fluent in English, German and Italian.

The only problem is: where should I go after high school? Where are my chances of a successful career greater? What I would like to have is a comparison between US and EU aviation markets, and where it would be wise to go.

A comparison of quality of life factors would also be useful, such as where the wages are better on average (ie. I've heard that wages in the US are worse than in Europe - is that true?) and how companies treat their employees (on average - I know that every company is different).

I would really appreciate it if someone who has US and EU experience could answer some of my questions.

Thanks in advance,

Marco

[A320rider]

go to the USA...more planes, more jobs, more opportunities.

EU= the end of our system have reached his paroxysm...

[Gnirren]

I worked as a flight instructor in the US and I saw plenty of pilots with far less hours and quite frankly, competence, than me get picked up by regionals. The european market unfortunately has become filled with costly self-sponsorship deals and it's now to the point where it's standard practice and to be expected that the applicant will either be rated already or fund his rating otherwise. In america, pilots still receive their corporate training free of charge.

While it is true that starting salaries may be less impressive in america, they tend to pick up fairly quickly and they cap out very high. I think delta captains earn roughly 230k a year but I could be wrong. To me, at least right now the US seems to be the place to go to with regionals screaming for FOs. I know for sure that I'd be there in a hearbeat if I where to win the greencard lottery next year (if I was still unemployed of course)

[Boeing4ever]

Thank you for your insight, A320rider and Gnirren.

Anyone else with another viewpoint? I'm especially interested in the quality of life aspect, such as what management is like. I have the impression that it is better in Europe, since there are not as many (or at least not as many in the media) layoffs and outcries about wages being cut or pensions lost. Is this true?

Marco

[herta]

Just a precision : from what I know, green card is no longer enough to get hired as pilot. Now US airlines want american passport.....