China Southern Airlines

We estimate a China Southern captain at $186K a year, gross, before income tax. It is our own estimate, worked out from publicly available information; the actual figure moves with the aircraft type, years of service and the routes you fly. Separately, a 2019 posting from a pilot recruitment agency for foreign captains quotes a monthly figure, not an annual one: USD 19,000 in year one, USD 21,000 in year four, and USD 18,000 in year one for a pilot joining without the type rating. These are not the airline’s own figures, they are seven years old, and the posting itself says it summarizes “the new DRAFT contract elements”, so they are not current terms. We do not multiply them by twelve.

We estimate a China Southern first officer at $94K a year, gross, before income tax. It is our own estimate, worked out from publicly available information; the actual figure moves with the aircraft type, years of service and the hours you fly. The 2019 agency posting is for captains only.

Contract Captain (Foreign) — International (irregular). Key requirements: License: ATPL (ICAO); CAAC: License conversion required.

Captain, A330 / B787 / B777, first year (2019 agency posting, monthly): basic pay, monthly $19K; Same, first year (joining without the type rating): basic pay, monthly $18K; Same, fourth year: basic pay, monthly $21K. These are the monthly figures the airline publishes, not an annual figure divided by twelve. Twelve times the monthly figure does not equal the published annual figure, and we leave both as published. A total package that includes housing and school fees divided by twelve is not a monthly salary.

We estimate annual pay for China Southern Airlines first officers at about $94K. That is our own estimate from public information, not a figure China Southern Airlines publishes. These are gross figures, before income tax. The actual figure moves with the aircraft type, years of service and the routes you fly. These figures come from an agency posting from 2019, and the posting itself says it summarizes "the new DRAFT contract elements". They are not current terms. Source checked 2026-09-29; yen figures are converted for comparison at the rate held as of 2026-08-22, not a live rate.

Every figure on this page is gross, before income tax. Take-home depends on where you are resident and on your own deductions, so no single percentage applies, and we do not publish one. Airlines based in countries with no personal income tax — the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia — leave more of the same gross figure in your hand.