VietNamNet Bridge – Like colleagues in many other countries in the world, Vietnamese pilots are very well paid. According to the national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines, a captain of the airline can receive VND200 million a month.

This salary, according to Sohanews, a website run by VC Corporation, is 11 times higher than the salary paid to the Prime Minister (VND17.1 million).

The monthly salary is equivalent to a 14-month income of a Vietnamese minister (VND14.4 million). And it is 20-29 times higher than the salary of a Vietnamese professor or associate professor (VND7-10 million).

A captain just needs to work one month to get enough money to buy the Indian car Tata Nano, two Rolex watches (VND100 million each), two 65-inch TVs, three Vespa scooters and 11 iPhone 6s.

This sum of money would be a fortune for a poor family because it is enough to buy 13.5 tons of rice, an amount that could feed a four-member family for 4,104 days, or 11.25 years.

It is enough to buy 13,333 loaves of bread. Suppose that a person eats one loaf of bread per day, then the amount of bread would be enough for 36.5 years.

Mot The Gioi quoted foreign journals as reporting that the salaries of Vietnam Airlines’ pilots receive are equal to, or a little higher, than the average level in the world.

Pro Pilot, a journal which carries out an annual survey on professional pilots’ incomes, has released a report, showing that in 2014, the lowest income level was $33,000 per annum and the highest was $259,000, paid to a management post.

Also according to the journal, a chief pilot can earn $41,000-195,000 a year. The average pay level globally is $103,000, or VND2.1 billion a year.

There are three pay levels applied to Vietnam Airlines’ pilots. Those who pilot ATR 72 planes receive VND1.4 billion a year and will receive VND1.5 billion from July 2015. Pilots flying Airbus 321 aircraft now receive VND1.7 billion and will receive VND1.9 billion.  Those who fly Boeing 777 and Airbus 330 are paid VND2 billion and will be paid VND2.1 billion.

The pilots-instructors receive VND2.4 billion and will get 2.6 billion, figures which are believed to be much higher than the average level of pilots worldwide.

A tax officer noted that the money Vietnam Airlines’ pilots can pocket is much higher than their colleagues in European countries, such as Belgium and Germany, where the income tax is at 42-50 percent.

Pham Ngoc Minh, general director of Vietnam Airlines, also said that Vietnam Airlines’ pilots’ incomes are not low as people think.

“The VND200 million a month income is higher than the pay to professors, doctors and workers in other business fields,” Minh said.

Thanh Lich