Crew contract
The agreement fixing your pay structure, base, contract length, training bond and notice — read it before you resign from anything.
Definition
A crew contract is the employment agreement between you and the airline — or, at some low-cost carriers, between you and a crewing agency that supplies the airline. It sets the grade and base, basic pay and how flying pay and allowances are calculated, contract length and renewal, probation, the training bond, notice periods, accommodation terms and the grooming and conduct rules you agree to be bound by. Gulf carriers typically issue fixed-term renewable contracts; European and North American legacy carriers permanent ones, often under a union agreement.
What it means for you
The contract is where the salary headline meets the small print: whether flying pay is per block hour or per sector, what happens to housing if you leave early, how large the training bond is and when it expires, and whether you can be moved base. Agency contracts at some low-cost carriers can mean self-employed status, seasonal layoffs and no pay between contracts. Compare the terms with the airline's record on this site and with a union or crew forum before you sign.
In practice
Emirates and Qatar Airways crew join on fixed-term contracts that renew, with housing, medical cover and an end-of-service benefit written into them; a US major's crew contract is the collective agreement negotiated by the union, which is why a ratification there moves pay for tens of thousands of crew at once.
Go deeper
Related terms
4 terms- ProbationRecruitmentThe initial months of employment during which the airline can end your contract at short notice — and at some carriers pays you less.
- Training bondPay & benefitsA contract clause that makes you repay some or all of your initial training cost if you leave the airline within a set period.
- UnionPay & benefitsThe organisation that negotiates cabin crew pay, work rules and grievances collectively with the airline.
- Right to workRecruitmentYour legal permission to be employed in the country where the airline will base you — a hard filter at most carriers outside the Gulf.