Total compensation for business aviation professionals rose eight per cent in 2026, according to AirComp Calculator's analysis of industry surveys. That's up from the six per cent gain the company measured for 2025.

The 2026 increase is more than twice the rate of 3.4 per cent for US workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Cost Index.

For flight departments setting 2027 budgets, that gap matters, according to AirComp Calculator's founder Chris Broyhill. A plan built on the three to four per cent raises common elsewhere could leave crews paid below the market.

“If you're paying at the 50th percentile of what the business aviation market is paying, you're accepting risk,” Broyhill explains. “You need something else to retain your employees, whether it's a predictable schedule or a great culture. Even better, offer both.”

A competing offer usually must beat current compensation by more than 10 per cent to pull someone away, he continues: “Sometimes a 10 per cent pay increase won't do it. The number has to be life-changing to want to pull up roots, relocate your family and start again at a new flight department.”

Broyhill expects the airlines to keep hiring in 2027. About 4,300 airline pilots a year will reach the FAA's mandatory retirement age of 65 through 2042, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

In an NBAA study he led of more than 1,100 business aviation pilots, a predictable schedule was the top reason they left for the airlines. Even top-of-market compensation may not keep them. “You can pay somebody that's flying a super-mid at the 90th percentile, and that's still probably not going to be enough to keep them from the mainline carriers if they want to go,” says Broyhill. He digs into retention, compensation and other flight department leadership challenges on ‘The Flight Department Show’, the podcast he launched this year.

Growth was strongest among crews of premium long-range aircraft. “The bigger the iron, the bigger the paycheck. The type rating might be the same, but the job is different, and you get paid for the job, not the type rating.”

In one industry compensation survey covering Gulfstream G700 captains at 10 per cent of the organisations operating long-range aircraft, the average base salary was about $343,000. The 90th percentile reached $435,000. With bonuses, average total cash compensation was about $395,000, rising to about $495,000 at the 90th percentile. “People are just showing up to work flying an aircraft and making 500 grand,” Broyhill goes on.

Base salary in the Northeast typically runs 10-15 per cent above the national average, and some West Coast positions run close to 30 per cent above. The spread can be wide even within one state. A pilot based in Redding, California, might see a regional premium near five per cent, compared with 30 per cent or more in the San Francisco Bay Area.

AirComp Calculator draws on three major industry compensation surveys each year, including the NBAA Compensation Survey. Each covers a different slice of the market. All three capture first-quarter data and typically reach the public about three months later. Broyhill ages that data forward using five-year average growth factors for each position. He then matches results to the right aircraft class and adjusts for local labour markets using Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Those surveys depend on participation, which has slipped across the industry, Broyhill says: “The more flight departments that take part, the more accurate the data is for everyone, especially the smaller departments that make up much of business aviation.”

Headquartered in Dallas, veteran-owned AirComp Calculator provides regionally adjusted compensation reports for business aviation professionals and the organisations that employ them. Founded in 2020 by Broyhill, the company covers 21 positions, nine aircraft classes and more than 80 U.S. metropolitan markets, drawing on validated industry surveys, public labour data and proprietary analysis.

Pilots, maintenance professionals, flight attendants, schedulers and aviation managers use AirComp Calculator to evaluate job offers, prepare for compensation discussions and understand their market value. Flight departments, aircraft owners, management companies and HR teams use it to benchmark compensation, support recruiting and retention, and plan budgets. Services include individual and organisational reports, annual subscriptions, custom compensation studies and consulting.