The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) released the results of its annual Compensation Survey last week, showing an overall increase in pay for industry employees of 3 to 4 percent on average compared to the 2017 survey results. The 2018 survey collected salary data on 16 job descriptions from 790 member companies that represent 4,130 employees.
“The survey shows that our members are adjusting and keeping up with industry trends,” said Peter Korns, NBAA’s manager of tax, operations and workforce engagement. “As our industry continues to work to attract and retain quality talent we are seeing real efforts to fairly compensate pilots and mechanics who may otherwise seek out alternative opportunities.”
According to NBAA’s data, the category experiencing the largest salary increase was aviation department managers (non-flying), where compensation was up 30 percent from the 2017 numbers for an average of $205,000. Maintenance foremen salaries increased 14 percent to $127,000 and senior captains saw a 12 percent increase to average $164,000. The survey wasn’t all good news, however. Line service personnel average salary dropped by 10 percent and dispatcher salaries experienced a 12 percent decrease, which NBAA says is cause for further analysis.
