Virgin take home pay

[Motions Coming On]

Ok, I've tried searching with no success......

could someone please tell me how much an F/O (on the 400) with VAA actually takes home per month (after tax). Any additional info on salary/benefits greatly appreciated.

It's career decision making time again!!

[scroggs]

It has been covered before, but starting basic salary is about £43k. There is a further £7.5k (currently) in hourly pay and profit-related pay. On top of that are the subsistence allowances which total around £5k - but are spent down route, of course!

Take-home pay will depend primarily on two things - which country you live in (many Virgin pilots live overseas) and what pension contribution you elect to make. Assuming you are under 51, you may contribute up to 15% of your pensionable income (which includes the hourly and profit-related pay). As long as you contribute at least 6%, the company will contribute a further 15%. Other benefits include private health insurance for you and your family, death-in-service benefit, loss-of-licence insurance and PHI (critical illness cover). There are plenty of other things, but that'll do for now!

Oh yes, for a UK taxpayer, before pension contributions, your take-home should be around £2800 a month.

[Motions Coming On]

Thanks for that scroggs - very helpful. 2800 a month seems a little on the low side, most of the people I speak to claim to take home about 3200 - but I can't seem to get a definate (consistant) figure. F/O's at ryan and ezy are taking home more than 2800, is the pay really that bad?

Thanks again for the info.....a lot lower than I'd hoped for though!!

[Manual Reversion]

Yr 1 : £2940 take home on 60 hrs flying. This, after 6% pension contribution (company 15%) and PHI etc. Not including allowances from trips.

[scroggs]

Well, I may have overestimated the tax take! As I say, it depends on your tax situation. A starting pay of £50k (pensionable) plus allowances seems better than most UK airlines - and it will go up significantly in July as the final year of the last pay deal kicks in. I'm aware that Ryan and EZ pilots can take home more - but, AFAIK, they're not on incremented pay. At year 10 as an FO (which you may or may not reach - command comes at about 7 years at the moment) your pay would be approximately £64k including hourly and profit related pay (Jan 05 rates - will rise from July).

I doubt anyone here has claimed Virgin is the best-paid airline around, but it's a hell of a lot better than it was! Whether it's enough for you, only you can say. But you can make your own calculations based on £50k starting pay and your own tax rate, and whatever pension contribution you think you are likely to want to make (up to 15% of basic).

[Bluebaron]

I'm at Britannia and i took home an average of £3300 last tax year.

BB

[Moe Syzlak]

Basic in year one ~45000 then +2.5%+RPI per year. Hourly (block) pay for FO £10.22 per hour (figure will change in July). Contracted for 760 hours per year. If you fly above 760 then you'll also get basic/750 per HOUR! This is £62 per hour for me. You can also volunteer for 100 extra hours in which case you'll get ~60 per hour after you've done 81.5 in any particular month. Oh and a sock full of money when you get to the hotel down route. The company will put in 15% gross to your pension if you put in just 6%-although you can put in a full 15% also. So the options are open, one chap might work like a dog and coin it in another can stick to the basic and get more time off. What can I say........I've been around a bit -If they offer you a job- TAKE IT!

[Motions Coming On]

Thank you all - most helpful!

[MAX]

BB,

Yes but you're not a first year FO and earned a little flexi + hajj money, no?

MAX

[flybystring]

Try this link it will give you your takehome bases on any gross salary

http://www.e-gismos.com/ukpay.asp

[scroggs]

Nice link, FS. Using a tax code of 370 (which is what mine is), the starting pay of £43600 plus £7665 variable pay, the monthly take-home - before pension contributions - is £2922. So my £2800 estimate wasn't wildly out!

[ETOPS]

Yr 1 : £2940 take home on 60 hrs flying.

As a comparison BA pilots flying longhaul would operate around 70/80 hrs a month for slightly more pay.............

[16 blades]

command comes at about 7 years at the moment

Scroggs, me old, is that situation likely to persist for the foreseeable? BA appear to be up the proverbial waterway in this department, with no light at the end of the tunnel. I believe this could be a major factor putting people off BA, hence their 'shortage'. 7 yrs to command is fairly good in the grand scheme and makes VS alot more attractive overall. Any thoughts?

16B

[P-T-Gamekeeper]

Are allowances/flight pay taxable?

As I understand it Virgin give you a wad of cash downroute for allowances, whereas BA give you it in your paypacket. Does this affect the tax situation?

[busflyer]

I heard that at the moment Virgin is only considering applications from people with time on 330 or 340.

Has anyone with only time on the 320 been successful in getting a job with them?

[scroggs]

Scroggs, me old, is that situation likely to persist for the foreseeable? BA appear to be up the proverbial waterway in this department, with no light at the end of the tunnel. I believe this could be a major factor putting people off BA, hence their 'shortage'. 7 yrs to command is fairly good in the grand scheme and makes VS alot more attractive overall. Any thoughts?

Commands are a function of two things: retirements and expansion. Virgin has relatively few retirements as most captains are in their 40s, but is expanding at about 10% per year. At the moment, that means command in 7/8 years, though there is no guarantee that this figure will remain valid. If expansion stopped tomorrow, command would go out to 15 years or more. BA, on the other hand, has not been expanding - in fact, quite the opposite - and thus commands are currently between 17 and 23 years, according to those in the know. Any move to restart expanding the airline will have an effect on these numbers, but any expansion at BA will be relatively small as a proportion of the size of the airline, and so you would not expect command to come much less than, say 13-14 years. The forthcoming anti-ageist legislation due to take effect in 2006 will mean that BA captains currently slated to retire at 55 will be eligible to continue to 60, and so progresiion to command will be slowed further. Virgin's retirement age for captains is already 60, and pilots can currently return to the RHS until 65.

Are allowances/flight pay taxable? As I understand it Virgin give you a wad of cash downroute for allowances, whereas BA give you it in your paypacket. Does this affect the tax situation?

Allowances are not taxable. They are paid down route to be spent down route. This has been thrashed out with the Inland Revenue, and will remain the case. There is some reason to believe that BA and others may have to go to a similar system. Flight pay (pay per hour flown), on the other hand, is both taxable and pensionable.

I heard that at the moment Virgin is only considering applications from people with time on 330 or 340. Has anyone with only time on the 320 been successful in getting a job with them?

We have recruited several ex-A320 drivers. We have also taken a few people who are not qualified on any of our types (such as, but not restricted to, ex-military pilots).

[Fly Princess]

hmmm...

I was at the Virgin Atlantic site recently, and my understanding is that in order to be hired as a pilot, you have to have the ability to live and work in the EU (permanent residency visa or equivalent) in addition to meeting the minimum requirements.

Is this not correct?

[scroggs]

Yes, it is correct - as it is for any EU-based airline, in exactly the same way as the US requires the right to live and work in that country, ie the green card.

[scroggs]

Commands are a function of two things: retirements and expansion. Virgin has relatively few retirements as most captains are in their 40s, but is expanding at about 10% per year. At the moment, that means command in 7/8 years, though there is no guarantee that this figure will remain valid. If expansion stopped tomorrow, command would go out to 15 years or more.

It's been pointed out to me that this doesn't accurately convey a full enough picture. The 10% expansion I referred to is in capacity not in aircraft. Hence, the numbers of aircraft (and thus commands) will not increase as quickly as the number of seat-kilometres available. Logic suggests that time to command will increase when the airline reduces its expansion rate, which is unlikely to be maintained indefinitely in the mature longhaul market. Thus a new-joiner now may need to be thinking in terms of 10 years or so for command.

Hope this helps!

[Dan Winterland]

Allowances are taxeable in VS, and they have already been taxed when you get them. Inland revenue assume you will spend 75% of them and tax at 22% of the remaining 25% is deducted at source and paid by the company.

However, I think (and am willing to be corrected on this) that some time in the future (possibly 1 Apr 06) Inland revenue are planning to tax all allowances at your highest rate and anything you spend downroute (on living expenses) is deductable.