How Much Do Regional Airline Captains Make Compared To Major Airline Captains In 2026?

Published Aug 19, 2026, 4:00 AM EDT Louis is a military historian and the staff writer for History of War magazine, a leading military history monthly. He also has an interest in private and commercial aviation. In the post-pandemic aviation boom, pilots' salaries have increased rapidly, sparked by urgent hiring from major airlines. The situation has normalized, and salaries have stabilized once more. The gap remains substantial between regional and major airline pilot salaries in 2026. The narrowest gap exists for early career first officers, who earn the lowest salaries. Experienced captains earn more in both cases, with major airline widebody captains receiving vast compensation. The Last Five Years Have Seen Significant Changes To Regional Airline Salaries Credit: Shutterstock Rotate Pilot identifies five phases of regional pilot salary development in recent years. In "the bad old days" lasting until the end of the pandemic period, regional salaries were notoriously low, particularly for first-year regional officers. This was due to the adequate pilot supply, creating little competition to increase pilot salaries. Pilots had to accept the sacrifice to reach the major carriers. Things changed in the post-pandemic period when travel demand came back. Legacy carriers began hiring drives, grabbing huge numbers of pilots from regional airlines. Some of these carriers had to park their jets due to a lack of pilots. Regional carriers responded in 2022 by dramatically increasing their salaries. This included initial pay, along with signing and retention bonuses. From 2023 to 2024, pilots' unions negotiated record contracts with the legacy airlines. This step forced regional airlines to upgrade their base salaries. We are now in a period of normalization. Major airlines have now fixed their pilot shortages. However, the higher regional pay floor has remained. Flying for a regional airline has become a well-paying job in its own right, and not just a stepping stone to the major airlines. How Much Do Regional Pilots Earn? Credit: Shutterstock In 2026, first-year regional first officers can expect to earn between $50 and $90 per hour. This rises to $100 to $150 per hour for regional captains. Once signing and retention bonuses are factored in, first-year first officers in regional airlines can expect to earn $90,000 to $100,000. There is some variation depending on the carrier that a pilot signs up with, the hours they work, and the bonuses they agree upon. According to Rotate Pilot, the salaries for first officers and captains at the top regional airlines, along with the major airlines that they flow to, are as follows: Regional airline First officer hourly rate Captain hourly rate Major airline flow Skywest Airlines $51 $120 Preferential to United Airlines Envoy Air, PSA Airlines and Piedmont Airlines $90 (post bonus) $146+ Guaranteed to American Airlines Endeavor Air $54 plus bonuses $120 Guaranteed to Delta Air Lines Republic Airways $50 plus bonuses $110 Preferential to American, Delta, and United Mesa Airlines $50 (following 2022 raises $100 Preferential to United GoJet Airlines $50 $100 Preferential to United Air Wisconsin $50 $95 American via a capacity purchase agreement Captains earn significantly more than first officers at regional airlines. American Flyers estimates regional captain salaries tend to land between $140,000 and $150,000, with the most experienced captains often earning significantly more. There is also some variation between airlines. For example, American Flyers predicts that a 12-year captain at Endeavor Air earns over $200,000, while one at SkyWest Airlines earns $189,000. How Much More Do Major Airline Captains Make In 2026? Credit: Shutterstock This spring, Simple Flying's Daniel Osipov reported on earnings for major airline captains in the US in 2026. The main variation for these pilots is between widebody and narrowbody captains. Narrowbody captains make upwards of $300,000 per year. The table below compares year one first officer salaries with year six and year 12 captain salaries at a range of major airlines. It uses data collected by American Flyers. They are all notably higher than salaries made by pilots on regional airlines: Airline First Officer (Year One) Captain (Year Six) Captain (Year 12) Delta Air Lines ~$117,735 ~$334,178 ~$349,540 Southwest Airlines ~$130,478 ~$328,241 ~$343,541 United Airlines ~$119,968 ~$340,756 ~$356,443 American Airlines ~$117,735 ~$335,680 ~$351,339 Spirit Airlines ~$110,221 ~$313,467 ~$338,500 JetBlue Airways ~$101,088 ~$307,044 ~$323,460 Alaska Airlines ~$101,088 ~$307,044 ~$323,460 Frontier Airlines ~$97,000 ~$345,247 ~$362,212 The most experienced narrowbody flyers can make $450,000 a year. Experienced widebody captains are the most well-paid aviation professionals. They can expect to make $500,000 a year. In each of these cases, there will be opportunities to pick up extra flying at premium pay. How Do Freight Salaries Compare? Credit: Shutterstock US pilots aren't restricted to regional or major airlines when looking for a job. They can also work as a cargo pilot for firms like FedEx Express and UPS Airlines. These airlines have been desirable due to the prevalence of widebody aircraft in their fleets, increasing the likelihood that a pilot will be assigned regular widebody missions. Pay rates now tend to be lower than in commercial aviation, although experienced widebody captains can still make over $400,000 annually. Alongside these famous cargo carriers, some pilots are also employed by ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, Insurance) freight airlines. ACMI is a form of wet leasing where an airline provides a fully functional aircraft and its crew to another airline. Examples of such airlines in the US include Atlas Air and Kalitta Air. The table below shows standard hourly salaries based on experience for Atlas Air and Kalitta Air captains in 2026, making use of Airline Pilot Central data. Please note that the Atlas Air salaries are for pilots flying Boeing 747 jets, while the Kalitta Air salaries are an average across multiple aircraft types: Experience (years) Atlas Air Captain Hourly Rate Kalitta Air Captain Hourly Rate 12 $332 $316 2 $259 $211 1 $247 $165 Captains flying for ACMI airlines can expect to start at around $165,000 and may exceed $300,000. As is so often the case, aircraft size often defines pilots' salaries. Aero Select notes that an Atlas Air Boeing 747 captain makes $200,000 to $280,000 per year. However, experience earned in the freight industry may be less relevant, as time spent flying in the regional aviation section as pilots look to upgrade to major airlines. There is little point amassing vast numbers of hours on a 747 given that very few passenger airlines continue to fly them. Earnings For Charter Pilots In The US Credit: Shutterstock Another type of aviation for qualified pilots is the charter airline industry. Although pay in this sector will broadly mirror commercial and freight firms, there will often be significantly more variation. That is because of the range of different aircraft and types of client included within the charter aviation umbrella. Larger narrowbody captains could make over $200,000, while the pilots of smaller aircraft might only make $50,000 a year. Alongside the enormous variation, the salaries in the charter sector also average out lower, as shown by data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In May 2024, it found that the median pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer salary for the non-scheduled sector was $226,870 annually, while the median pay for similar roles in the scheduled sector was $239,200. The chartered sector has lower salaries for smaller aircraft, as is the case for the entire aviation sector. However, this effect is more severe because of the incredibly small size of some charter aircraft. The industry features single-engine turboprops. An example is Connecticut's Tradewind Aviation, who operate under the FAA's Part 135 regulations and fly the Pilatus PC-12. The firm advertised its basic salaries in a career brochure that noted how working for such an airline is an opportunity to "skip the regionals." For first-year first officers, the starting salary offered was $50,000 a year. This increased to $70,000 for new captains. Pilot Salaries Aren't The Only Form Of Compensation Credit: Shutterstock | Simple Flying Basic salaries for major airline pilots are significantly higher than their colleagues in the regional, freight or chartered sectors. That only explains part of the story of what pilots expect in return for their hard work. Pilots will factor all of these forms of compensation into the equation when deciding which jobs they should apply for. Firstly, pilots get a per diem allowance per day spent away from base. This money, often amounting to a few thousand dollars a year for narrowbody captains and substantially more for widebody captains who spend a lot of time away from home, aims to deal with some of the costs incurred. United and Southwest incorporate around $7,000 in per diem pay per year. Another perk that adds to a year's earnings is bonuses. These can be tied to an individual pilot's performance, with incentives for flying a certain number of hours or getting qualified for more aircraft. Pilots can also often sign up to profit-sharing schemes, tying their earnings more closely to the company's wider success. The final, and often most important, additional form of compensation is an airline's retirement plan. All airlines will match a pilot's 401k contributions to a certain amount. Delta has a particularly strong 401k, matching pilots up to 17%. Wiser Investor expects this to rise to 18%. They may also provide their pilots with life insurance and a disability plan for extended time spent sick.