Pay ranges at the five Gulf carriers
| Item | Emirates | Qatar Airways | Etihad Airways | Riyadh Air | Gulf Air |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Captain, annual | $157K take home cash, official example pay and benefits about $323K |
$182K our estimate, from public information not a figure the airline publishes |
$184K ceiling stated in the posting 75 flying hours a month; not an average |
$271K | $170K our estimate, from public information not a figure the airline publishes |
| First officer, annual | $105K take home cash, official example (Standard) pay and benefits about $245K |
$129K our estimate, from public information not a figure the airline publishes |
$140K ceiling stated in the posting 75 flying hours a month |
$189K | $94K our estimate, from public information not a figure the airline publishes |
| Figure published by the airline | three of them in AED and USD |
none | an "up to" figure based on 75 flying hours a month |
none | none |
| Housing | in kind value stated separately |
none | cash allowance inside the "up to" figure |
none | none |
| Captain, minimum total hours | 7,000 h | none | 5,500 h A320; 2,500 h PIC |
none | none |
| First officer, minimum total hours | 2,000 h | none | 2,000 h or 1,500 h with A320 time |
none | none |
| English requirement | Level 5+ (captain) / 4+ (first officer) | none | ICAO Level 4+ | none | none |
| Annual leave | 42 days | none | 42 days | none | none |
| Vacancies, September 2026 | captain and first officer | none published | captain and first officer | none (postings closed) | none |
The amounts above are different kinds of figure. Emirates is the recruitment example the airline publishes itself (take home cash, and a pay-and-benefits total that includes housing, schooling and other items). Etihad Airways is the ceiling stated in its job posting (based on 75 flying hours a month; a maximum, not an average). Qatar Airways and Gulf Air have no official figure, so those cells carry our own estimate, worked out from public information and not a figure the airline publishes. The Riyadh Air figure is calculated from pay data submitted anonymously to PILOT VALUE together with public material, and it is not a figure released by the airline. Because they are different kinds of figure, they cannot be added, subtracted or ranked against one another. Flight hours, English levels, housing, annual leave and vacancies are as stated on each airline’s own pages and job postings. "None" means the airline publishes nothing for that item. Amounts are treated as having no income tax deducted.
Emirates publishes three figures, and which one you call "salary" changes it by more than 2×
Emirates publishes more detail than any other Gulf carrier. But the three figures it lists do not add up to one another. An article that gives a single "Emirates captains earn X" does not say which of the three it means.
Direct Entry Captain
First Officer
- Take home cash — basic salary and flying pay, annualised at 85 flying hours a month.
- Pay & benefits — the cash above plus accommodation, education, medical, travel and provident fund, and it assumes "employee, spouse and 2 eligible children". Someone without children does not receive the same amount.
- Accommodation value — the value of the housing provided in kind. It does not arrive as cash.
The Emirates amounts in the table above are two of these three — take home cash, and pay and benefits — converted into yen. What this site collects from pilots is gross pay as printed on a payslip, which does not include company housing or school fees. Because the two count different things, the airline's published figures and pilots' own payslip figures are set side by side with the kind of figure named, rather than one replacing the other.
Etihad states an "up to" figure, with its conditions, in the job posting
First Officer
“with the potential to earn up to AED 513,732 (USD 138,318) per year based on 75 flying hours per month”
- What it contains: basic salary, flying pay, housing allowance, and layover and meal allowances.
- What it excludes: education allowance (AED 40,000 primary, AED 55,000 secondary, up to three children), income protection, insurance, staff travel, end-of-service benefit and relocation support — all listed separately.
- Requirements: 2,000 hours total with 1,500 hours multi-crew glass cockpit and 500 hours on type (criteria A), or 1,500 hours total with 1,000 hours on A320 (criteria B). A320 flying within the last 12 months, ICAO ATPL (frozen accepted), class one medical, under 50 on joining, ICAO English Level 4+. 42 days annual leave.
Captain
“up to AED 674,029 (USD 181,589) per year based on 75 flying hours per month”Source: Etihad Airways job posting (captain, ref 80371)
- Requirements: 5,500 hours total, 2,500 hours PIC multi-crew glass cockpit, 1,500 hours PIC on A320. A320 flying within the last 12 months, ATPL, class one medical, under 59 on joining, ICAO English Level 4+. Augmented flights are counted at 75%, stated explicitly. 42 days annual leave.
- This "up to" figure is a ceiling, based on 75 flying hours a month. It is not an average and not a guaranteed minimum. 75 hours a month is close to the top of what is actually flown, so an ordinary month lands below it. Separately listed items such as education support and the end-of-service benefit are not inside this figure either.
Emirates provides accommodation in kind and states its value apart from pay. Etihad pays a cash housing allowance, which sits inside the "up to AED 513,732". So although both are "housing included", the Emirates take-home-cash figure excludes housing while the Etihad figure includes it. Add or subtract across the two and one of them always comes out wrong. This is the main reason aggregator comparison tables of the Gulf disagree with each other.
Etihad also publishes cadet pay as monthly amounts — starting at AED 5,000, then 16,667, then 24,000, capped at 34,000, and AED 39,853 on appointment as senior first officer. These are monthly, not annual, so they cannot be lined up directly against other carriers’ annual figures.
Qatar Airways, Riyadh Air and Gulf Air — neither pay nor entry requirements published
These three put out neither a pay figure nor their entry requirements, so the pay cells above carry our own estimate. Some other sites do quote figures, but none of them says where the figure came from, so they are not used here.
Qatar Airways — pay and entry requirements both unpublished
Qatar Airways publishes neither pay nor entry requirements. Flight hours, English level, age limits and housing are all absent from its official pages, which is why those cells are empty in the table above. The figures of $182K for a captain and $129K for a first officer in the table above are our own estimates, worked out from public information. They are not figures Qatar Airways publishes.
Riyadh Air — no pilot vacancies as of September 2026
- The two pilot requisitions that used to exist both redirect to the careers home page; the postings have closed. The talent-community form lists Human Resources roles only.
- The only thing the careers page carries is a warning notice: "Riyadh Air will only engage with potential applicants through our official channels and that Riyadh Air would never request any payments or personal bank details during the application process."
Gulf Air — no pilot vacancies as of September 2026
- Ten vacancies were listed in September 2026, and none of them is a pilot, captain or first-officer role.
- On pay, the careers page says only "Competitive salary package." No figure is given.
- The GAPTU collective agreement has only a July 2024 announcement of signature; neither the text nor any figure is published.
- Applications have moved to a separate recruitment system. The jobs.gulfair.com and careers.gulfair.com addresses that appear in search results no longer exist, so links in older articles will not open.
Which of the five to choose
The only one of the five that states the value of company accommodation as a figure. It also publishes a total that assumes "employee, spouse and 2 eligible children", so the closer your family is to that assumption, the more readable it is on paper. But the captain door is also the highest of the five: 7,000 hours and ICAO English Level 5+.
It publishes two doors for first officers, and states officially that 1,500 total hours is acceptable with 1,000 hours on the A320. Age limits (under 50 for first officers, under 59 for captains), the figure and the requirements all sit in one posting, which makes it the easiest of the five to verify.
Only two of the five publish a figure, and those two are not counting the same things (housing in kind versus a cash allowance). Any article that gives a ranking is including estimates. What this page can show is each carrier’s range and where it came from. These ranges narrow only as more pay data arrives from pilots flying there.
Frequently asked questions
Which Gulf airline pays pilots the most?+
Do Gulf airlines publish pilot pay?+
What is the difference between the three Emirates figures?+
How does housing differ between Emirates and Etihad?+
Is the Gulf really tax-free?+
What are Riyadh Air’s pilot requirements?+
Is Gulf Air hiring pilots?+
Each airline in detail, and other regions
Pay data from pilots flying in the Gulf is what narrows these ranges
Where an airline has no official figure, the cell above carries our own estimate. Only pay data from pilots flying in the Gulf now can turn estimates and ranges into real figures. Every anonymous submission narrows them a little further.
Add your pay anonymously