Maintaining aircraft is essential for the safety of those who travel the friendly skies. Aircraft maintainers play an essential role in servicing aircraft and keeping them safe for travel and transport. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 117,000 aircraft maintenance and service technicians were employed in the United States in 2010. Salaries earned by these aircraft maintainers varied by location and the type of aircraft maintained.
Pay Scale
- Aircraft-maintenance technicians earned salaries that generally ranged from about $33,630 to $72,250 per year, as of May 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average salary brought home by these technicians was $53,280, with a reported median salary of $53,420. Those in the middle 50 percent of the pay scale managed to make salaries that ranged from $43,660 to $62,280 on an annual basis.
Employers
- The type of aircraft maintained and the employer for which the aircraft maintainer provides services also help determine how much the mechanic is paid. According to the BLS, those technicians maintaining aircraft for courier and delivery-service companies managed to make an average salary of $78,380 in 2010. This salary was substantially higher than the salary earned by others in fields with larger numbers of technicians. For instance, the largest group of technicians were employed by airlines in the scheduled-air-transportation field and made an average salary of $56,570. Those in the broad field of support activities for scheduled air transportation made substantially less at just $45,810 per year. Federal government employees made $55,730, on average.
Location
- Location is also a determinant in the pay earned by aircraft maintainers. The BLS indicates that the top-paying states for this profession included those of Tennessee, Indiana, Connecticut and Kentucky, where average salaries exceeded $60,000 per year in 2010. The top-paying cities for those working in this field were Memphis, El Paso and South Bend, Indiana, where maintenance technicians all earned average salaries in excess of $72,000 per year in 2010, according to the bureau.
Job Outlook
- The job outlook for those working in the aircraft-maintenance field appears favorable, according to the projections made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period from 2008 to 2018. The bureau indicates that the number of jobs in this field will increase by 7 percent during this time. Although this only represents average job growth, compared to all other professions, it is an indication that the field is expected to grow slowly and steadily, rather than contract.
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