I have just spent several frustrating minutes trying to track down “Civil Aviation Authority figures released yesterday” according to Friday’s Times.
To no avail, of course.
The story purported to tell us how the pay of cabin crew & pilots for different airlines changed between 2009 & 2010. The headline is ‘Younger, cheaper staff help airlines to bring down average pay bill’ & the article refers throughout to ‘average pay’, but the graphic talks about ‘pilot expenditure per head’.
So do the figures include employer’s ERNIC & pension contributions?
When I finally managed to find the notes (but no figures beyond 2009) I find that they include not only pay, pensions & insurance but crew uniform and equipment costs. The term ‘pilot expenditure per head’ may also include ‘expenses incurred by the airline in respect of meals, travelling and accommodation.’
These details matter.
Ask any MP required to account for themselves.
What really startled me however was the cabin crew expenditure per head of Virgin Atlantic - £13,300 a year in 2010.
The same day the Times reported the story of two of the residents burned out their flat in Tottenham – both of them hospital cleaners on £12,000 a year, which is £6.28 per hour in the NHS according to adverts appearing on the web. When you add employers ERNIC & pension contributions (if any – no expenses of course) there may not be all that much difference; the perks of working for an airline are a lot better of course
