Feb. 24, 2025
Business aviation flight departments can turn to an increasingly sophisticated array of compensation tools to bolster their base pay offerings and strengthen their ability to attract and retain employees, noted a panel of industry experts in the recent NBAA News Hour webinar: “More Than a Paycheck — Navigating Business Aviation Compensation in 2025.”
“Compensation is a huge factor in every industry, and business aviation is no exception, but there are also other factors at play that are critical to attracting and retaining the best business aviation professionals,” explained Sheryl Barden, CAM, CEO of Aviation Personnel International. “Quality of leadership and [company] culture are high priorities, and for our industry, work-life balance is also particularly important
“If I were the leader of a flight department, I would do everything I could to make sure I was an employer of choice where my people enjoy where they are working” she added. “Once you have that, you can focus on the compensation piece, to achieve this, I would start by educating the accountable executive because once he or she understands how a flight department can be impacted if it cannot attract and retain staff, then they can be your partner and advocate with HR and other executives.”
One of the most useful tools available to business aviation leaders is the industry’s ability to offer employees structure and predictability, said Chris Broyhill, CAM, founder and CEO The Aircomp Calculator.
“As the annual NBAA Compensation Survey shows year-after-year, there are many creative ways to attract and retain business aviation professionals, but one of the things that really differentiates us from the higher wages of the commercial airline sector is our ability to provide a guaranteed schedule,” he said. “If you can make your employees’ lives predictable and structured so that they know their schedule months in advance, that’s a quality-of-life aspect of your operation that you can monetize.”
That benefit can have a dramatic effect on a flight department’s bottom line, Broyhill noted.
“You typically want to shoot for the 75th percentile on the pay scale to stay ahead of the curve, but if you’re giving your people a guaranteed schedule, do you have to be at the 75th percentile? I’d argue maybe not, because you’re providing something that your employees may not get elsewhere,” he said. “Let’s say you’re being paid at the 50th percentile, but you have a guaranteed schedule, and you know what your life is going to look like; that’s extremely attractive.”
NBAA Compensation Survey
Pay is still critical, and as the most recent NBAA Compensation Survey shows, business aviation paychecks are increasing. Between 2023 and 2024, compensation across 14 positions in flight departments posted an average increase of 9.2%, more than double the national average reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Cockpit crew powered much of this growth, but importantly, maintenance pay — which traditionally trails pilot pay increases — saw equivalent growth, and maintenance supervisors even posted double-digit gains in compensation.
Review the 2024 NBAA Compensation Survey Executive Summary (PDF)
“Knowing that we are keeping measure with other industries and leading in a few areas is great to know,” said webinar moderator Jo Damato, CAM, NBAA senior vice president of events and professional engagement. To build on that momentum, though, flight department leaders need to participate in industry efforts like the NBAA Compensation Survey, to stay informed.
Consistent participation in the survey is critical to helping individual operators as well as the broader business aviation community, added Kathryn Radle Moors, manager, global employee services, compensation and benefits for BDO USA, which has partnered with NBAA to conduct the survey since 2019.
“Some participants like to check in every two or three years, but compensation trends move too quickly to wait every couple of years. Data can incredibly quickly and become outdated, so we need broad and consistent participation to make sure the data is as relevant as it can be,” said Moors.
Damato called on all eligible NBAA business and operating members to participate in the upcoming 2025 survey questionnaire, which will be open for eight weeks starting in March. “If you participate, you will receive complimentary access to this highly respected survey, so please look out for emails about the next window of participation.”
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.