Aviation Jobs with High Salaries
The air travel industry always slows a bit when the country is in a recession, but if you look at long-term trends, this is an industry that will only grow as more and more people begin traveling by plane. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there will be almost 90,000 airline pilot, copilot, and flight engineer jobs in the United States alone by 2016 – that’s over 10,000 more than there were in 2006.
Becoming a pilot isn’t your only option either. Along with flying a plane or being a flight engineer, you can also become an air traffic controller. All of these jobs easily have $100K potential. In fact, the median pilot/co-pilot salary in 2015 was over $102,000, and the median air traffic controller salary that same year was over $122,000.
Most commonly, you need a bachelor’s degree to get a $100k+ job in the air transportation industry, but that isn’t always true. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that only 73.6% of all airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers have a bachelor’s degree. Better yet, degree or not, when you become a pilot, copilot, engineer, or air traffic controller, you start out with a high salary. This isn’t an industry where you need to climb the ladder for a decade or two before you’ll see those six figures.
Think outside the box, too, if you’ve taken some flight lessons and want to make a career in the air transportation industry. Have you considered the following jobs?
- Private Flight Instructor: Depending on where you live and who you teach, you may be able to see a huge salary by teaching others to fly. With this type of career, you need experience, so this isn’t something for beginners.
- Air Tour Guide: Start your own “flight-seeing” tour, and you definitely have $100k+ potential. There are some hurdles to jump here – you need to have a lot of money to start up, because you’ll need your own plane or helicopter, you need to have a lot of experience, and you need to live in an area where people want tours by air, like Alaska or Hawaii. It’s an option, though!
- Commercial Pilot: Commercial pilots are like truck drivers in the air. If you become a commercial pilot, you may not make over $100,000 at first, but the top 75% make six figures annually.
Don’t overlook the airline and airport industry in your quest for a $100K+ job. Most people first think of flight attendants and baggage handlers when they think of air transportation, but there are absolutely more lucrative careers in this industry as well.
Utilizing $100KJobFinder you can be on top of the industry and the many job opportunities.