• Germany edition
Business & Money
Photo: DPA

Air Berlin co-pilots paid near poverty level

Published: 22 Dec 12 10:06 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20121222-46935.html

Some co-pilots who fly for Air Berlin are paid only a bit more than €800 a month, after payments for their training are deducted from their salaries, Der Spiegel magazine reported.

The pilots are actually paid by Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter (LGW), a company that contracts with Air Berlin, but they all fly exclusively for the carrier and are paid around €1,635 per month.

At first glance that may not seem like a starvation salary, the magazine wrote, but the co-pilots are required to pay back €75,000 in training costs. This amounts to about half of their monthly pay, leaving the co-pilots with a salary that is about the minimum one needs to survive, the magazine wrote.

“It is often difficult to communicate that our salary does not reflect our working conditions," one affected pilot said. For many being a pilot is considered a dream job, but dream salaries are only paid by a few airlines, Spiegel wrote.

“No pilot with experience would ever fly for LGW,” a pilot told the magazine. The company is seen as a place to start and exit as soon as you get experience.

Lufthansa is the best paying German airline, the magazine wrote, offering around €60,000 to first year pilots. However Lufthansa is also outsourcing its pilots to companies that pay considerably less.

Air Berlin co-pilots are starting to fight back and are now threatening to not support the airline’s savings program.

Passengers are generally unaware of the turmoil in the cockpit. Except for a small notice when boarding that the aircraft is operated by LGW there is no indication during an Air Berlin flight that perhaps there is a co-pilot in the cockpit living just above the poverty level.

The Local/mw

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

15:43 December 22, 2012 by The-ex-pat
The pilots are actually paid by Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter (LGW), a company that contracts with Air Berlin

So they are not actually Air Berlin Pilots................? So next question, what has the Local against Air Berlin...?
23:42 December 22, 2012 by ciprian
Well, the article says Air Berlin is outsourcing their co-pilot jobs to LGW and they get paid miserably. In other words, the 2nd in command on the plane you are flying with might be more stressed and concerned over making that month's rent rather than focusing on flying....They are human after all...
15:25 December 25, 2012 by AirForceGuy
Easy solution... pay the pilots less and the copilots more!!! Oh wait, we have unions to deal with....
12:40 December 28, 2012 by DoubleDTown
it seems there is a subtle suggestion here that co-pilots might not do a good job if they are not paid well. is that also the case in the U.S. for doctors and lawyers that spend most of their first years' incomes paying down student loans? paying for one's education isn't a radical idea everywhere.
11:11 March 2, 2013 by Roberto Gold
Comment removed by The Local for breach of our terms.
ADD YOUR COMMENT   (YOU MUST LOG IN OR REGISTER TO MAKE A COMMENT)
Business & Money headlines
Photo: DPA

Spain and Germany fight youth employment

Germany has agreed to provide vocational training and jobs for young Spaniards starved of opportunities in their crisis-hit home country. READ () »

Photo: DPA

Car boss asks Merkel to rethink CO2 pledge

The president of the German Automobile Association (VDA) has written to Angela Merkel, asking her to retract her pledge to significantly reduce CO2 car emissions by 2025, it was reported on Tuesday. READ () »

Photo: DPA

SAP to hire hundreds of autistic IT experts

German tech company SAP said on Tuesday it wants to hire hundreds of people with autism to work as software testers and programmers. The search has, it said, begun for people “who think differently from others.” READ () »

Photo: DPA

Economists warn against German euro exit

While a third of Germans would rather pay with the old Deutsche mark than the euro, economists warn that a German exit from the currency union would result in a disaster. READ () »

Photo: DPA

Germany cool to France's EU economy plan

Germany said Friday that French President Francois Hollande's proposal for a eurozone economic government was "interesting" but reacted coolly to his call for strengthened European budgetary powers. READ () »

Photo: DPA

Au pairs rules relax for non-German families

Foreign families will soon be able to officially engage au pairs from outside the European Union, as long as they speak German at home, as the government prepares to change the law. READ () »

Wolfgang Schäuble and his French counterpart Pierre Moscovici. Photo: DPA

Germany refuses to slam French economic policy

Germany will not publicly criticize France over economic policy, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble insisted on Thursday, amid differences between Berlin and Paris over growth versus austerity in battling the eurozone debt crisis. READ () »

Photo: DPA

Capri-Sun drink wins false advertising award

A German food industry watchdog singled out drinks-maker Capri-Sun for its annual advertising "award" on Thursday, for what the group described as "shameless" marketing of sugary drinks to children. READ () »

Photo: DPA

Anaemic economy feels winter chill

The German economy, Europe's biggest, clocked up anaemic growth at the start of 2013 as the freezing winter weather put the brakes on activity, official data showed on Wednesday. READ () »

Photo: DPA

ThyssenKrupp bins 3,000 admin jobs

German heavy industry giant ThyssenKrupp said on Wednesday it plans to axe 3,000 administrative jobs worldwide as disastrous investments in steel operations overseas tore holes in its balance sheet in the second quarter. READ () »

More Business & Money

See all ads | Join the Marketplace

Jobs in Germany, in English

888 jobs available
589 new jobs this week
0 new jobs today

ALL JOBS »

Latest Business & Money news from Sweden
News from the Goethe-Institut
News from DeutschlandOnline

Toytown Germany
Germany's English-speaking crowd
Trade CFDs with InterTrader.com
Start trading shares, equities, forex, etc. No commission on equities; Low min. margins. Apply for a CFDs account now!
Little house in Spain
'Charming, old, beamed cottage for holiday let in Jesus Pobre, Alicante, Spain
www.littlehouseinspain.com/
Albatross Insurance
Professional and qualified consultancy on all insurance and finance matters in Germany, Telephone: +49 2163 571 1740, Email: bg@albatross-assurance.com
www.albatross-assurance.com
Hotel reservations in Berlin
Visiting Berlin anytime soon? Book your hotel in Berlin here.
Rental apartments in Berlin
For home-from-home holiday accommodation, search for a Berlin apartment to rent.