KEY NUMBERS
What is actually known about pay at the three Taiwanese carriers
| Item | STARLUX Airlines | EVA Air | China Airlines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Captain, annual | about $195K Our own estimate from public information. Range $173K–$245K. Not a figure the airline publishes |
about $186K Our own estimate from public information. Not a figure the airline publishes |
about $126K Our own estimate from public information. Not a figure the airline publishes |
| First officer, annual | about $123K Our own estimate from public information. Range $116K–$129K. Not a figure the airline publishes |
about $100K Official posting. The floor behind the words "over USD 100,000 a year"; no ceiling is published (four-year contract) |
about $69K Our own estimate from public information. Not a figure the airline publishes |
| Figure published by the airline | none | USD 100,000+ first officers, English site only |
none |
| Captain, minimum total hours | 3,500 h 700 h PIC |
none | 5,000 h English portal; Chinese says 3,500 |
| First officer, minimum total hours | 1,500 h 1,000 h for domestic applicants |
2,000 h 500 h multi-crew jet |
1,500 h 500 h on type |
| English requirement | ICAO Level 4+ | ICAO Level 4 | ICAO Level 4+ |
| Open to foreign nationals | Yes (separate hour minimums) | Yes (four-year contract) | English portal only |
| Bond / minimum service | none published | 4-year contract | 3–7 years by category |
For every figure we name whose pay it is, what it includes and when it applies, and we name the kind of figure it is. Where an airline has an official posting we use that amount; where there is no official figure the cell carries our own estimate. We produce no rankings and no Taiwan-wide going rate. Flight hours, English levels, nationality and bonds are as stated on each airline's own pages. Yen amounts are a conversion for comparison, not today's exchange rate.
OFFICIAL FIGURES
EVA Air is the only one of the three to publish a pay figure
Across the three airlines’ recruitment pages, annual reports and statutory filings, the only pay figure published is on EVA Air’s English recruitment page. Where nothing is published, the cell says so rather than being filled with an estimate.
BR
EVA Air — first-officer pay published as a figure
“Annual income exceeding USD 100,000, effective from your first operational flight.”
- It is stated for first officers. Allowances and subsidies are calculated separately, and a performance-linked year-end bonus, a housing subsidy or company housing, eight consecutive days off a month and 22–42 days of annual leave are all listed on their own.
- The contract runs four years.
- This is a floor; no ceiling is published. The about $100K shown for a first officer on this page is that official floor itself.
- ⚠️ The regional editions differ. en-global, en-us and en-th carry this USD wording; en-sg, en-gb, en-au and zh-hk still show older Taiwan dollar figures; zh-tw, ja-jp, ko-kr and vi-vn carry no figure at all.
- The Taiwan dollar figures are not used here. No language edition says whether they are monthly or annual.
- The captain figure of about $186K on this page is our own estimate, worked out from publicly available information. It is not a figure EVA Air publishes.
- Separately: APAS, a pilot recruitment agency, lists first officers (A321 / B777 / B787) at NTD 2,880,000–2,916,000 a year, and NTD 166,500–168,500 a month during training (as at September 2026). These are an agency's advertised figures, not figures published by the airline. We do not multiply the training monthly by 12 or 13 to make an annual figure. They are separate from the official figure above, so we do not blend the two into an average either. We do not convert them into yen, because we could not establish who they apply to or how long the posting runs.
CI
China Airlines — pay not published; the bond is, for each entry route
“軍方退役機師：按飛時經驗支薪；完訓合格後敘任為副機師。服務年限至少四年。”(Military retirees: paid according to flight-hour experience; appointed first officer after training; minimum four years’ service.)
- It says pay follows flight-hour experience, but no amount appears anywhere.
- The English annual report (162 pages) gives only a rate: "The average salary for all employees of the Company increased by about 4.36% in 2025." Bonuses are given as the formula in Article 41 of the collective agreement — one month of base pay at year end, plus a separate 20% of pre-tax profit when there is a profit, with employee remuneration at no less than 3% of pre-tax profit — again with no amount. Headcount was 11,642 at the end of 2025, with no breakdown by job, so the number of pilots is not stated either.
- The annual report confirms a collective agreement was signed with the Taoyuan pilots’ union on 29 December 2021, but the text of that agreement is not public.
- The figures of about $126K for a captain and about $69K for a first officer on this page are our own estimates, worked out from publicly available information. They are not figures China Airlines publishes.
- Separately: a third-party site reports that a recruitment advert for a hiring roadshow held in Kuala Lumpur in July 2026 stated USD 10,000 a month, allowances included. We could not confirm it on the airline's own pages, so it is not used for the annual pay on this page. Nor do we multiply it by 12 to make an annual figure — it is one past advert, and not the same thing as what was actually paid that year.
JX
STARLUX — pay not published; the statutory filing is an all-employee figure
- The recruitment pages state no pay. What they do publish is flight hours, licences, English and the medical.
- The STARLUX figures in the table above — about $195K for a captain and about $123K for a first officer — are our own estimates, worked out from publicly available information. They are not figures STARLUX Airlines publishes. Taiwan pays thirteen months a year, and a housing allowance of NTD 30,000 a month and NTD 1,000 a month of transport are separate.
- The STARLUX estimates run $173K–$245K for a captain and $116K–$129K for a first officer. Where you sit inside that range is set by the aircraft type, years of service and the routes you fly. Income tax applies in Taiwan, and every figure here is before tax.
- As a listed company it does file. For financial year 2025 the mean salary of full-time non-managerial employees is TWD 1,115 thousand and the median TWD 722 thousand.
⚠️ This is not pilot pay
It covers every job type outside management, including cabin crew, ground staff and engineering. The median (722) sits well below the mean (1,115) because the larger job groups pull it down. Pilots are likely to be on the side that lifts the mean, but that cannot be verified, so it is not turned into a number. Note also that the same filing reports "benefits" (1,312, the all-employee mean including managers) separately from "salary" (1,137 on that same basis); they are different lines, and benefits reads higher.
For reference: the government publishes a ranking, not an amount
The Ministry of Labour’s occupational wage survey states that among detailed job categories, aircraft pilots have the highest monthly earnings and are among the highest on an annual basis. What is published, though, is the ranking and thresholds ("above NT$100,000", "above NT$1.5m") — not the pilot figure itself.
HIRING STANDARDS
Entry requirements at the three airlines
Pay may be unpublished, but all three publish their entry requirements in detail. Everything below is as stated on each airline’s own pages.
STARLUX Airlines
Captain
3,500 h (700 h PIC)
First officer
1,500 h (foreign) / 1,000 h (domestic)
Licence, English, medical
EASA, ICAO, FAA or CAA licence; ICAO English Level 4 or above; class one medical
The recruitment pages state no pay.
EVA Air
First officer
2,000 h total; 500 h on multi-crew jets above 20 t MTOW
Licence and English
ICAO ATPL, ICAO English Level 4
Contract and leave
Four-year contract; eight consecutive days off a month; 22–42 days annual leave
⚠️ No captain minimum is published.
China Airlines
Captain (English portal)
5,000 h; 1,000 h PIC on commercial jets; 500 h PIC on type
First officer (English portal)
1,500 h; 500 h on type
Both
ATPL; flying within the last 18 calendar months; class one medical; ICAO English Level 4 or above; high-school graduation; employment certificate; police clearance
⚠️ The Chinese portal says 3,500 total and 800 PIC — the figures above are the English ones. As of September 2026 no captain vacancy is open; only the requirement block remains in the page.
Source: English application portal
NATIONALITY & BOND
The bigger difference is not pay — it is nationality and the service bond
Pay at the three airlines is not published in a form that can be lined up side by side. What differs a great deal is whether a foreign national can apply at all, and for how many years you are tied — and both of those are published explicitly.
China Airlines: a bond per category, in writing
7 yr
Company-sponsored cadet
4 yr
Commercial-licence holder from general aviation
3 yr
Experienced airline pilot — or until retirement age
4 yr
Military retiree
Only one route is open to foreign nationals
All five categories live on the Chinese portal, and all five require Republic of China nationality and household registration. The English portal is the single route open to foreign nationals. The English requirements are published in detail too: cadets need 140 or above in both TOEIC Speaking and Writing, plus one of IELTS 6.0, TOEIC 750 (with Listening 400+), TOEFL ITP 527 or Linguaskill 160. Applications to the same category are capped at two.
STARLUX and EVA Air: requirements written for foreign applicants
JX
Publishes separate first-officer minimums — 1,500 hours for foreign nationals, 1,000 for domestic applicants. The wording assumes foreign applicants. No bond is published.
BR
States a four-year contract on its English recruitment page, alongside a housing subsidy or company housing, 22–42 days of annual leave and eight consecutive days off a month. It is the only one of the three that states a figure.
Taiwan is not a tax-free posting
Unlike the Gulf carriers, all three are jobs in a country with income tax. Every figure on this page is a pre-tax amount.
CAREER GUIDE
Which of the three to choose
1
You want a number before you move
EVA Air
The only one of the three that states first-officer pay as a figure. Contract length, leave days and housing sit on the same page, so the terms can be compared on paper.
2
Your hours are still low
STARLUX Airlines
The published first-officer door is 1,500 hours (1,000 for domestic applicants) — the lowest of the three. The captain door, 3,500 hours with 700 PIC, also sits ahead of China Airlines’ English portal at 5,000 with 1,000 PIC.
3
You want to settle in Taiwan for the long run
China Airlines (English portal)
The bond for experienced pilots reads "three years or until retirement age" — a design that assumes a long stay. But foreign nationals have only the English portal, and as of September 2026 no captain vacancy is open. No figure is published anywhere.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Which Taiwanese airline pays pilots the most?+
We do not rank them: lining up figures of different kinds is not a comparison. For none of the three could we find a captain figure on an official page (checked 28 September 2026). Our own estimate for STARLUX is about $195K for a captain and about $123K for a first officer — worked out from publicly available information, not figures the airline publishes. What EVA Air publishes is a floor only — "annual income exceeding USD 100,000" for first officers on a four-year contract, about $100K — and our own estimate for an EVA Air captain is about $186K. For China Airlines our own estimate is about $126K for a captain and about $69K for a first officer — again worked out from publicly available information, not figures the airline publishes.
Do Taiwanese airlines publish pilot pay?+
Only EVA Air does. Its English-language recruitment page states, for first officers, "Annual income exceeding USD 100,000, effective from your first operational flight." STARLUX and China Airlines give no figure on their recruitment pages, in their annual reports, or in their statutory disclosures.
Can foreign nationals fly for Taiwanese airlines?+
China Airlines requires Republic of China nationality and household registration in all five categories on its Chinese-language application portal. The English-language portal is the only route open to foreign nationals. STARLUX publishes separate first-officer minimums — 1,500 hours for foreign nationals and 1,000 hours for domestic applicants — so it clearly expects foreign applicants.
Is there a bond or minimum service period?+
China Airlines states one per category on its Chinese-language page: seven years for company-sponsored cadets, four years for commercial-licence holders from general aviation, three years (or until retirement age) for experienced airline pilots, and four years for military retirees. EVA Air states a four-year contract on its English recruitment page.
Is the average salary in Taiwanese listed-company filings pilot pay?+
No. Listed companies in Taiwan must disclose the mean and median salary of full-time non-managerial employees, which covers cabin crew, ground staff and engineering as well. STARLUX disclosed a non-managerial median of TWD 722 thousand for financial year 2025 — that is not pilot pay.
Which China Airlines flight-hour minimum is correct?+
The English and Chinese portals differ. The English portal asks captains for 5,000 total hours including 1,000 PIC hours on commercial jets; the Chinese "airline pilot" category asks for 3,500 total and 800 PIC. Foreign nationals can only apply through the English portal, so the English figures are the ones that apply to them.
How many times can you apply?+
China Airlines states on its Chinese-language page that applications to the same pilot category are limited to two. The other two airlines do not publish a limit.
RELATED PAGES
Each airline in detail, and other regions
JX
STARLUX in detail
Pay, fleet, requirements
BR
EVA Air in detail
Pay, fleet, requirements
CI
China Airlines in detail
Pay, fleet, requirements
Comparisons for other regions
Pay data from pilots flying in Taiwan is what makes this page accurate
Where an airline has no official figure, the cell above carries our own estimate. Only pay data from pilots flying in Taiwan now can turn those estimates into real figures. Every anonymous submission lets us say a little more.
Add your pay anonymously