Nowhere do pilots earn as well as with the core brand Lufthansa Airlines. However, the attempt to resolve a dispute over pension provision has failed again. The paycheck shows the details.
Frankfurt. It is the most complex attempt to date to permanently resolve a conflict that has been simmering for years between the pilots' representative Association Cockpit (VC) and the Lufthansa management.
But arbitration, one of two elements of this attempt, ended inconclusively. On the one hand, it was about the pension and remuneration of the pilots of the core brand Lufthansa Classic, Lufthansa Cargo and Eurowings. On the other hand, a collectively agreed social plan for the cockpit staff of the Lufthansa Cityline, which closed in April, was on the agenda.
None of these issues could be resolved. The appointed arbitrators did not formulate an arbitrator's award as usual. Now everyone is looking at the parallel moderation scheduled until November 15th. This deals with conflict issues that affect all of the group's flight operations, but also with the content of the failed arbitration.
If no solution is found here either, there could be a risk of new labor disputes next year. For outsiders, especially passengers who have been repeatedly affected by strike action in the past, it is difficult to understand why it is so difficult to resolve the ongoing conflict. After all, the pilots earn well.
In this article you will find out how much pilot training costs and how much Lufthansa and Eurowings will pay aircraft captains in detail in 2026.
Becoming a pilot: How much does the training cost?
It costs around 120,000 euros to train a pilot at the European Flight Academy (EFA). The good news: The management of Europe's largest airline group has changed the financing conditions for interested parties. While they previously had to finance a large part themselves - often through their parents - applicants now “only” have to bring 10,000 euros in equity.
The rest of the sum is pre-financed. After the end of the training, young professionals must gradually repay this money as soon as their gross annual income is at least 30,000 euros. The higher the income, the higher the repayment rate.
How much is the pilot salary at Lufthansa and Eurowings?
A captain of the Lufthansa core brand can earn a maximum of 281,300 euros per year - without allowances.
According to the company, a first officer joins the Lufthansa core brand with a fixed salary of 88,600 euros per year. As a captain with the highest seniority level - it expresses the number of years of active service - you can even earn up to 281,300 euros. This makes this professional group one of the top earners – within the group itself, but also beyond Lufthansa.
There are also allowances and things such as profit sharing if the airline is profitable. According to data from the Pilotjobnetworks portal, after 30 years, a captain's salary with all allowances can in some cases exceed the threshold of 300,000 euros per year.
For comparison: According to the company, Eurowings pilots start as first officers with around 70,200 euros, almost 20,000 euros less than at Lufthansa. At higher career levels, the salary difference to the crane airline captains continues to grow.
A captain at Eurowings can earn a maximum of just under 202,300 euros in fixed salary - around 80,000 euros less than at the parent company. The same applies here: allowances are not taken into account. Eurowings pilots can, for example, increase their salary with money for additional flight hours or allowances for instructors, for example.
What influences the pilot salary at Eurowings and Lufthansa?
In general, pilot salaries depend on several factors. There's the plane they fly. And there is the number of years of employment – the so-called seniority mentioned above. The number of block hours flown per month sometimes also plays a role. This refers to the time between removing the brake shoe before taxiing at the departure airport and putting this shoe on at the destination.
All of these factors make it fundamentally difficult to compare salaries between Lufthansa and Eurowings. The parent company's salary information also includes long-haul pilots, who generally earn better than their colleagues on short-haul flights. Eurowings, on the other hand, only flies short and medium-haul flights.
In addition, some numbers in the salary tables are rather theoretical. On paper, a first officer with 30 years of service at Lufthansa can earn 234,447 euros more than a captain with fewer years of service. In fact, a first officer does not reach this length of service; he has long since moved from the right to the left pilot's seat - that of the captain.
Nevertheless, Gerald Wissel from the aviation consultancy Airborne Consulting in Hamburg believes: “There is a two-tier society among the Lufthansa Group pilots.” It starts with money and ends with extra allowances.
Lufthansa pilots still have many special rights
For a time, a minimum fleet size was set for the pilots of the Lufthansa core brand - in the so-called perspective agreement. It was 325 jets. The regulation was important for the pilots because it guaranteed co-pilots to fly a lot on the way to becoming captain and could therefore take salary increases into account.
However, during the pandemic, management unilaterally terminated this agreement. The VC therefore declared almost a year ago that it wanted to have the proceedings clarified in court in arbitration proceedings. The pilot representation sees a violation of the rules on the minimum fleet size at Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo.
The core brand's short-haul salaries have long been too high for Lufthansa management. At the same time, however, it needs these flights because they are feeders to Frankfurt and Munich in order to fill the long-haul aircraft there.
That's why these flights are now increasingly being taken over by the new subsidiary Lufthansa City Airlines. The new airline is to receive 40 Airbus A220-300s, and an option for a further 20 jets has been signed. The flying staff there are paid differently. At the same time, management briefly closed Cityline in April, which previously took passengers to Frankfurt and Munich. In view of the high costs and collective agreements that were no longer up to date, the management no longer saw a future for flight operations.
Lufthansa expert: “Get out of the tariff confusion”
Experts like Wissel admit that it is becoming increasingly difficult for pilots to influence their operational plan, the so-called request. “On the other hand, more and more administrative tasks are being added to the actual flying, which is where some of the current frustration comes from,” says Wissel.
Nevertheless, the pilots of the core brand still have many special rights, which always caused envy within the group. For Wissel it is therefore clear: “Lufthansa has to get out of this tariff confusion.”
