At NWA, $213 An Hour

Want to know how much you'd make flying a Boeing 7E7 Dreamliner? At Northwest Airlines, you don't have to ask.

With 12 years experience as a captain, you'll make $213 an hour. But here's the rub: The 7E7 doesn't yet exist except on paper and Northwest hasn't ordered any. In fact, while the 7E7 has several foreign launch partners, it has none here in the aero-challenged US.

The 7E7 pay rate is described in the latest NWA pilot contract -- one that cuts pay and benefits by 15-percent.

Want to know how much you'd make flying an Airbus A330-800 or -900? Nope, it's not a trick question. Northwest is fully cognizant of the fact that those derivatives don't exist and that Airbus hasn't even talked about such aircraft. But just in case they do, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports Northwest pilots can rest easy with the assurance that a captain with 12 years under his belt will make that very same $213 an hour.

As far as ordering a few 7E7s, NWA President Douglas Steenland says that particular airframe might fit very well in his company's stable. "We've consistently said that ourselves and other airlines would be well served by an aircraft with the range of the 747-400 but with a smaller shell size ... the 7E7 seems to fit the niche," Steenland told Air Transport World in September.

The 7E7 is slated to enter production in less than four years.

FMI: www.northwest.com, www.boeing.com