September 2026 · 8 min read · Sky Team Aviation Academy
The question “how much does a pilot earn in Saudi Arabia” comes up often, and the answers in circulation are loose figures with no source and no context. This page treats the question the way someone who actually works in the industry treats it: why there is no single figure that fits everyone, what the difference is between the first officer’s seat and the captain’s seat, what moves the salary within a single rank, and how to read any job offer correctly before you sign it. And where we do not have a figure attributed to a named source, we say so plainly instead of inventing one.
There is no unified pay scale for pilots in Saudi Arabia: the salary is set by the airline, the rank, the aircraft type and the network, and flight hours and experience
- •Commonly reported, not confirmed: first officer 25,000 – 40,000 riyals a month in total, and captain 60,000 – 80,000 — averages published by saudisalary.com, read on 23 September 2026, and not confirmed by any airline.
- •The first officer is the first paid seat in the cockpit, and it is entered with a commercial pilot licence (CPL). Their pay in their first year is usually the lowest of their career, and this varies by airline and market.
- •The captain carries the responsibility of command and signs off on the decision, is usually the highest-paid rank in the cockpit depending on the airline and the contract, and requires an airline transport pilot licence (ATPL) and a large total of hours.
- •The difference between two pilots who hold the same licence is made by the aircraft type, the length of the routes, the number of monthly hours, seniority within the airline, and each carrier’s allowance policy.
- •Any figure you read on salary websites is a market estimate that changes, not a job offer and not a commitment from any airline. The only binding reference is your contract.
How much is a pilot’s salary in Saudi Arabia?
There is no unified scale governing a Saudi pilot’s salary; a pilot’s salary in Saudi Arabia is set for each pilot by the airline they work for, their rank, whether first officer or captain, the aircraft type and the length of the routes they fly, and the number of flight hours and years of experience. That is why the figure differs widely from one airline to another, and the only reliable reference is the employment contract itself.
The reason is simple: civil aviation in the Kingdom is a competitive sector with a national carrier that has an international network, low-cost carriers that are expanding, and operators of private aviation and business jets, and each of them has its own pay structure, set by its operating model and not by a central body, and what people pass around as “the pilot’s salary” is in fact averages compiled by a third party from offers and from employees’ statements.
And there is a difference that most people who compare miss: the figure that appears in an advert or at social gatherings is most likely the monthly total after allowances, while the figure written in the contract is the basic salary alone. The gap between the two is not small, because a pilot’s package is made up of the basic, then the housing allowance, then the flight allowance calculated by the hour or by the sector, then non-cash benefits such as medical insurance and travel tickets for the pilot and their family. Anyone who compares one airline’s basic with another airline’s total comes away with a completely wrong result.
The commonly reported averages: basic and total for each rank
Because confusing the basic with the total is the root of the contradictory figures, we show the two separately, as a named third party publishes them. What follows are commonly reported averages for estimating the order of magnitude, not a pay scale and not a Sky Team figure, and no airline confirms them:
Source: saudisalary.com, under the heading “Average salaries”, read on 23 September 2026. Commonly reported, unconfirmed figures: carriers do not publish their pilots’ pay scales, and pilots’ contracts often include a clause that keeps pay confidential.
The difference between the two columns is the allowances themselves: the flight allowance calculated by the hour or by the sector, the housing allowance, the transport allowance, the allowance for training, licence renewals and the simulator, medical insurance, and the expatriate allowance for non-Saudis. That is why the monthly total differs between two pilots of the same rank on the same type, while the basic in the contract stays as it is.
The sources differ among themselves, and we show each one as it published it: horizons-edu.com prints an average for the Saudi civil pilot of between 17,700 and 21,000 riyals, attributing it to salary explorer for 2023, and eagleair.academy prints the same pair, meaning the two are most likely one reference, not two independent measurements. We do not combine these figures into a single average that nobody has published.
The rule that protects you: compare total with total and basic with basic, and ask the airline for a written breakdown of the package before any commitment. Do not build a career or financial decision on a figure published online, however often it is repeated, because published figures are estimates that change as the market, the fleet and demand change, and they bind the employer to nothing.
This page is for the Saudi market alone, on purpose; comparing pilots’ salaries in Saudi Arabia with their salaries in Egypt and the Gulf is a different question that has its own separate guide on the site, and we do not repeat its tables here.
First officer salary vs captain salary
Usually, the biggest financial jump in a pilot’s life is not the annual raise but the move from the right-hand seat to the left-hand seat, and the size of this jump varies by airline, market and experience. In the public’s eyes the two ranks carry the same title, “pilot”, but they differ in licence, responsibility and pay. The following table compares them on what is fixed and known — licence, responsibility and hours — as for the commonly reported figures for each rank, we have shown them above, attributed to their publisher and with the date we read them:
Promotion to captain is not a right earned with the passage of time. It depends on the airline’s actual need for captains on the same type, on the results of assessments in the simulator and on the line, and on your place on the internal seniority list. That is why some first officers move to a faster-growing carrier when command seats open up there sooner, and waiting at a stable airline may cost years of difference in pay.
What determines a Saudi pilot’s salary? The airline, the aircraft, flight hours, seniority
Four factors explain almost every difference you see between two pilots in the same market, and they are ranked here by their impact:
The airline and its operating model: the national carrier with its international network, the low-cost carrier with its short sectors, and the private aviation operator are three different worlds in pay structure and in the make-up of allowances, not merely three differing numbers.
Aircraft type and network: wide-body aircraft on long-haul routes raise the flight allowance and the number of flight hours together, while narrow-body aircraft on domestic flights keep the total closer to the basic.
Monthly and accumulated flight hours: monthly hours move the total immediately through what is paid per hour, and accumulated hours move your whole career because they are the condition for promotion and the condition for moving to a larger carrier.
Seniority and assessment: within a single airline, the seniority list governs your roster, your leave and your priority for promotion, and a clean assessment record is what keeps you on the lucrative type.
What is a pilot’s salary made of? And why do the commonly reported figures differ?
Most of the disagreement over pilots’ salaries is not a disagreement about the facts but about what is counted inside the figure. A pilot’s contract is not a single sum but several items, some of which move every month. When one person gives a figure and another gives a completely different one, most likely the first is talking about the basic salary and the second about the monthly total with all its items.
The items that income is usually made up of:
- Basic salary: the fixed item tied to rank (first officer or captain) and to seniority within the airline, and it is the figure that is usually published on its own.
- Flight-hours allowance: moves monthly with the number of hours actually rostered, and it is the reason two pilots of the same rank at the same airline have different incomes.
- Overnight and accommodation allowance away from base: tied to the airline’s network and the length of its routes, which is why long-haul routes raise the total without the basic changing.
- Housing, transport and travel-ticket allowances: contractual items that differ from one airline to another, and they may be paid in cash or provided in kind.
- End-of-service gratuity and medical insurance: they do not appear in the monthly salary, but they are part of the value of the contract.
Before you compare two figures: ask one question of each figure, basic or total? And does it include the flight-hours allowance or not? Two figures that look contradictory most often match as soon as you align what they measure. For exactly this reason, when we show commonly reported figures for specific airlines below, we state alongside them who published them and when we read them, and we say plainly what we do not know about them: a figure whose measure and source are unknown does not help you in a decision.
Pilot salaries at Saudia, flynas and flyadeal
This is the point at which figures of unknown origin multiply online. It remains true that we have not found a published pilot pay scale from any of these airlines themselves; carriers do not publish their pilots’ pay scales. What we show in the last column is what a named third party commonly reports, attributed to it and with the date we read it, alongside the operating model that explains why the pay structure differs from one carrier to another:
Read these figures for what they are. Airlines do not publish their pilots’ pay scales, and pilots’ contracts themselves often include a clause that keeps pay confidential. So the figures above are commonly reported, not confirmed: they are what a named third party publishes, with a known review date, we cannot verify them with any carrier, and they are neither Sky Team’s figures nor its estimate.
Use them only to estimate the order of magnitude. The only binding figure is what appears in writing in the job offer you sign, and the right way to read it is to ask of every figure: basic or total? And what does it include?
The rule that governs the market needs no figure and no forecast: every aircraft that enters service needs a full crew to operate it, so when fleets grow and new routes open, the pilot’s negotiating position improves, especially for those who hold an accredited international licence and an in-demand type rating. The reverse is just as true: in periods of slowdown, promotions freeze before salaries do. As for the state of the Saudi market at the moment you are reading this, it needs a named source and a review date, and we do not decide it here on your behalf.
And if you are reading this while thinking about the route rather than the figure, this is the right moment to ask. Our admissions team answers questions on the first step specifically: whether you meet the requirements, and what you need before you travel.
How do you become a pilot in Saudi Arabia?
The salary comes at the end of the route, and its start is the same for everyone: an accredited academy, a commercial licence, then a type rating with the airline that hires you. The routes open to you from inside the Kingdom are explained in detail in the guide to studying aviation in Saudi Arabia. As for the procedures for recognising a licence issued outside the Kingdom, ask the admissions team about them before you build your plan on information in circulation. At Sky Team, the student trains up to the commercial pilot CPL course with a total of 200 flight hours, over a cumulative period of 12 – 18 months from the first day, with all theory lectures in English. The details of aviation study costs have their own page, which explains what the programme includes and what it does not.
Frequently asked questions
What is a pilot’s monthly salary?
There is no single monthly salary for a pilot in Saudi Arabia. The monthly pay is made up of a basic salary fixed in the contract, to which are added a housing allowance and a flight allowance that changes from month to month with the number of hours and sectors you have flown. That is why the total for the same month differs between two pilots at the same airline and on the same type. As for what is commonly reported, the sources vary widely, and we show it as each of them published it, without combining it into a single figure that nobody has published: saudisalary.com (read on 23 September 2026) gives the first officer 17,000 – 28,000 riyals basic and 25,000 – 40,000 in total, and the captain 40,000 – 55,000 basic and 60,000 – 80,000 in total. Meanwhile horizons-edu.com (read on 23 September 2026, attributing its figures to salary explorer for 2023 and to Glassdoor) gives from 15,000 for a beginner up to 44,600 for someone with more than five years’ experience, and an average for the Saudi civil pilot of between 17,700 and 21,000 riyals. And eagleair.academy (read on 23 September 2026) prints the same pair, 17,700 – 21,000, which means the last two sources most likely go back to the same reference, not to two independent measurements. The gap between these figures is the message: none of them is confirmed, and not one carrier is their source.
How much does a pilot earn at flynas?
Like the rest of the carriers, flynas itself does not publish a pay scale. What is commonly reported for it by saudisalary.com, read on 23 September 2026, is 35,000 – 65,000 riyals a month in total. It is a commonly reported, unconfirmed figure, which we cannot verify with the airline. What can be said with confidence is that the pay structure at low-cost carriers relies on more, shorter sectors, so the total comes closer to the basic than at the national carrier with its long-haul routes. The only binding figure is what appears in the job offer itself.
How much does a lieutenant pilot earn?
“Lieutenant pilot” is a military rank, not a job at an airline, and its pay is set by the military pay scale and its allowances, not by a civil contract, and the reference for it is the military body itself. This page deals with commercial civil aviation alone: the first officer and the captain at air transport companies. The two paths differ in admission, training and licence, and in the way pay is calculated.
What is the highest salary in Saudi Arabia?
This is a question that goes beyond the aviation sector, and this page deals only with civil aviation, so we do not decide here where the highest salaries in the Kingdom are. Inside the cockpit, though, the order is governed by the contract, not a fixed rule: the captain’s seat is usually paid more than the first officer’s seat, and wide-body aircraft and long-haul routes raise the total through the flight allowance and the number of hours. And because these are relative differences, not fixed figures, they change with the airline, the market and experience.
Do the commonly reported figures for pilots’ salaries include allowances?
Most often not, and that is the reason for the wide gap between published figures. Most of what circulates is the basic salary alone, while actual monthly income adds to it the flight-hours allowance, the overnight allowance and the contract allowances. Before you compare two figures, make sure they measure the same thing.
The right-hand seat starts with one step
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