Pay & conditions · Europe
British Airways: pilot jobs, pay and conditions
United Kingdom · Legacy · BA / BAW
Hiring selectively
Speedbird Pilot Academy cadet programme.
Pay
Unofficial figures. Not from an agreement or the airline: collected from pilot forums, salary sites and other public sources. Treat them as indicative.
Pilot Jobs Network: August 2025 basic pay scale gives FO £72,738 (year 1) to £110,218 short haul or £124,474 long haul (year 20), and captain £96,983 to £146,953 short haul or £165,965 long haul. A brief entry from August 2025 gives a higher range: FO £74,930 to £141,984 short haul or £167,493 long haul; captain £99,905 to £189,309 short haul or £223,326 long haul. The page says first-year FO pay passes £100,000 with allowances. Flying pay of about £19 an hour comes on top. Second officer (Speedbird Pilot Academy) basic pay is £36,759 in year 1 and £67,199 in year 5. A 2026 blog estimate gives FO £50,000–120,000 and captain £100,000–167,000+.
Open vacancies (0)
No open pilot vacancies listed right now.
Conditions
- Allowances
- Allowances on top of basic (amounts not published).
- Bases
- LHR, LGW
- Fleet
- A320, A321, A350, A380, B777, B787
- Benefits
- DC pension, staff travel, BA master seniority list.
- Union
- BALPA
- Careers site
- ba.com ↗
Requirements
- Type rating
- company-paid
- Licence
- UK CAA Part-FCL ATPL/fATPL
- Other
- ICAO L6; UK right to work (SFO campaign accepts Skilled Worker visa); SFO 3,000h on type
Sources
Not from an official source: figures collected from pilot forums, salary sites and other public sources. Indicative only · figures from 2025-11 · checked 30 Oct 2026
- British Airways Mainline – Pilot Jobs Network wiki
- British Airways – Ready For Take-Off pilot conditions
- Rotate Pilot – British Airways (Oct 2026)
- British Airways: second officer rank (official)
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