Accuracy note: All figures below are as of 2026-07-22 and compiled from published pay tables and multiple independent industry sources. Airline pay rates change with contract raises and market adjustments — another increase hits the Alaska scale on September 1, 2026 — so verify current rates before relying on them for any career or financial decision. Where reputable sources disagree, we report the range rather than picking a number.
Alaska Airlines Pilot Pay at a Glance
Alaska's mainline pay scale is a narrowbody scale — 737 flying, with the E175s flown at Horizon under a separate operation. Since the Hawaiian Airlines merger, widebody A330 and 787 flying exists in the combined company, but it is still paid under the separate Hawaiian ALPA contract while joint-contract negotiations continue. Here are the endpoints of both scales where at least two independent sources agree:
| Position | Hourly Rate (mid-2026) | Approx. Base at ~75 hrs/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska 737 First Officer, Year 1 | $119.92–$124.72/hr | ~$108,000 (realistic first-year range ~$105,000–$135,000) |
| Alaska 737 Captain, Year 12 (top of scale) | $353–$361/hr | ~$318,000–$325,000 base; $350K–$400K+ total comp is common |
| A330/787 Captain, Year 1 (Hawaiian ALPA CBA) | $374/hr | ~$337,000 at the same 75-hr assumption |
| A330/787 Captain, Year 12 (top of scale) (Hawaiian ALPA CBA) | $407/hr | ~$366,000 at the same 75-hr assumption |
Rates as of 2026-07-22. The scale has intermediate longevity steps between year 1 and year 12; we show the endpoints where two or more independent sources corroborate the figure. Year 12 is the top of the Alaska captain scale. Ranges reflect genuine disagreement between published sources, not imprecision on one table.
Why the ranges? The current first-year FO rate is $124.72/hr following the 4% raise of September 1, 2025, but some outlets still publish the prior step of $119.92/hr, so treat $119.92–$124.72 as the sourced band. At the top, AviationA2Z cites $361.29/hr for a 12-year 737 captain while ReadyForTakeoff cites roughly $340–$361/hr after market-rate adjustments (the 2024-baseline year-12 rate was about $340/hr), which is why we report $353–$361/hr as the mid-2026 range.
First-Year Pay: The Realistic Math
Headline hourly rates mean nothing until you multiply them by hours you will actually be paid for. Here is how the first year genuinely works at Alaska:
Training: New-hire training pays 85 hours per month — at $124.72/hr, that is about $10,600 per month while you are still in the schoolhouse.
The floor: The monthly guarantee is 70 hours. At the current $124.72/hr rate, 70 hours × 12 months is roughly $104,800 — the least you should earn flying the line, before per diem or any premiums.
The typical line: Most pilots credit more than the guarantee. At around 75 credit hours per month, the commonly cited first-year figure is about $108,000, and realistic first-year base earnings run roughly $105,000–$135,000 depending on how much you fly.
One caution on outside numbers: you may see an $80,000 first-year figure floating around (Rotate publishes one). It is an outlier that does not survive the math — a 70-hour guarantee at even the older $119.92/hr rate already exceeds $100,000 per year. When a published salary number is inconsistent with the published hourly rate times the published guarantee, trust the rate-times-guarantee arithmetic.
On top of base pay, first officers earn per diem of $2.55/hr domestic and $3.00/hr international (including Hawaii) for every hour on a trip, and international/ETOPS flying carries an override of $5.25/hr for FOs. None of that shows up in headline salary figures, but it shows up in your bank account.
The Progression: From New-Hire FO to Senior Captain
Alaska's scale rewards longevity in the usual airline pattern: hourly rates step up each year of service, with year 12 the top of the captain scale. The endpoints tell the story. A new FO starts at $119.92–$124.72/hr; a 12-year 737 captain earns $353–$361/hr. That is roughly a tripling of the hourly rate over a career at the company, before any premium flying.
At top of scale, the base math looks like this: $353–$361/hr at about 75 credit hours per month works out to roughly $318,000–$325,000 per year in base pay. But base is not the ceiling. Senior captains commonly exceed $350,000–$400,000 in total compensation once you add premium pay for things like instructor and examiner duty, the international/ETOPS override ($6.25/hr for captains), and profit sharing. In strong profit years, those additions push senior captain total comp past the $400K mark.
The widebody question: Hawaiian rates and the merger
The Hawaiian merger added A330 and 787 widebody flying to the combined airline, and this is where the pay picture gets more interesting — and more complicated. Widebody rates currently come from the separate Hawaiian ALPA contract: an A330/787 captain earns $374/hr in year 1 rising to $407/hr at top of scale (year 12), figures corroborated by Airline Pilot Central and ThrustFlight. Those rates will remain on their own scale until a joint collective bargaining agreement (JCBA) is ratified.
Retirement contributions also differ across the two groups for now: Alaska pilots receive a 17% direct company 401(k) contribution, while ex-Hawaiian pilots on the widebody fleet currently receive 15–16% under their own contract pending the JCBA.
The contract behind the numbers
Alaska pilots ratified their current ALPA contract in October 2022 with more than 82% voting yes, then ratified a two-year extension in late September 2024 with roughly 97% approval on about 88% turnout. That extension is why the scale keeps moving: it delivers raises of the greater of 4% or a market-rate adjustment on September 1, 2025 and again on September 1, 2026 — the 2025 raise is exactly what moved the first-year FO step from $119.92 to $124.72. The amendable date was pushed out about 16 months to roughly March 2027, with a safeguard letting Alaska pilots open Section 6 bargaining on June 5, 2026 if JCBA talks stall.
Meanwhile, JCBA negotiations covering the combined ~4,500 Alaska and Hawaiian pilots began in February 2025, and the single operating certificate was achieved in October 2025. Until a JCBA is ratified, the two pay scales stay separate. If you are interviewing at Alaska in 2026, you are interviewing into a pay structure that is guaranteed to change — the only question is when and how much.
Beyond the Hourly Rate: Retirement, Per Diem, and Overrides
Alaska's non-hourly compensation is a significant part of the package, and interviewers notice candidates who understand it:
- 401(k): 17% direct company contribution, effective January 1, 2024, with no employee match required. On a $325,000 top-of-scale base, that is company retirement money on top of — not instead of — your own contributions.
- Per diem: $2.55/hr domestic and $3.00/hr international, including Hawaii flying.
- International/ETOPS override: $6.25/hr for captains, $5.25/hr for first officers.
- Profit sharing and premium pay: layover premiums and instructor/examiner pay, plus profit sharing that in strong years pushes senior captain total comp past $400K.
How Pay Should (and Should Not) Factor Into Your Interview Prep
Know these numbers cold — and then never say them in the interview room. "Why do you want to fly for Alaska?" is never a money answer. Every carrier on your application pays well at top of scale; quoting the pay table tells the panel you would leave the moment someone else's table looked better. What the numbers are good for is due diligence and conviction: understanding the contract situation, the merger timeline, and the September 2026 raise means you can speak intelligently about where the airline is headed — and it frees your "Why Alaska?" answer to be about the operation, the people, and your specific connection to the airline.
The compensation research is the easy half of preparation. The interview itself — the panel, the TMAAT behavioral questions, the scenarios — is where the job is won. Our full Alaska Airlines pilot interview guide covers the format and real questions, and the Alaska Airlines question bank has the operator-specific set to drill against. A candidate who can discuss the JCBA timeline accurately but answers "Why Alaska?" with substance beats a candidate who leads with the pay scale, every time.
Pro Tip: Practice your "Why Alaska?" answer out loud in the Vectors to Hired app, where the AI Voice Coach scores your spoken answers and flags anything that sounds like a compensation pitch before a panel hears it.
Sources
Figures compiled 2026-07-22 from the following. Conflicting figures are reported as ranges; numbers not corroborated by at least two independent references were omitted.
- airlinepilotcentral.com — Alaska Airlines
- airlinepilotcentral.com — Hawaiian Airlines
- readyfortakeoffbook.com — Alaska Airlines pilot conditions
- aviationa2z.com — Alaska Airlines pilot salary
- whatjobs.com — Alaska Airlines pilot salaries
- thrustflight.com — Alaska Airlines pilot
- thrustflight.com — Hawaiian Airlines pilot salary
- airlinegeeks.com — Alaska pilots contract extension
- news.alaskaair.com — contract extension vote
- news.alaskaair.com — 2022 contract ratification
- alpa.org — JCBA negotiations begin
- alpa.org — single operating certificate
- rotatepilot.com — Alaska Airlines (outlier figure discussed above)