Cargojet's Overnight Cargo Career: Pay, Rosters, and Path to Command

Cargojet Airways (IATA code W8, ICAO CJT) is Canada's dominant scheduled all-cargo airline. Founded as an airline in 2002 under entrepreneur Ajay Virmani, who consolidated earlier overnight cargo operations beginning in 2001, it is the operating subsidiary of Cargojet Inc., a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CJT. That public listing matters to pilots: it means audited financial statements, an annual information form, and management circulars are published every year, so the airline's revenue, fleet, contracts, and even pilot-related disclosures are open to scrutiny in a way that privately held cargo operators are not.

The corporate office sits in Mississauga, Ontario, but the operational heart of the airline is John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport (YHM), where Cargojet runs a near 24/7 sorting and flying hub that closes only for short windows in the early hours of Sunday and Monday. From Hamilton, the airline operates a dense overnight hub-and-spoke network that links the major Canadian cities and feeds the country's express and postal supply chains. Cargojet reports flying more than 15,000 flight legs per year, the majority of them at night, and crossed a milestone in 2024 by posting full-year revenue of C$1.0 billion (C$1,000.8 million, up 14.1% from C$877.5 million in 2023, per the company's 2024 results), with net earnings of roughly C$108 million.

The business rests on three pillars: a scheduled domestic overnight network, ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) wet-lease flying for other carriers and integrators, and ad-hoc or contracted charter operations. Its anchor customer relationship is with the Canada Post Group, including Purolator's national air network, which guarantees stable banks of overnight flying. Cargojet also flies for Amazon in Canada under an Air Transportation Services Agreement (two Boeing 767-300s), which was extended in July 2025 through March 2029 with an option to 2031, and it counts DHL, UPS and FedEx among its major clients. Long-term customer contracts generate roughly three-quarters of annual revenue, which is the structural reason job security scores well despite the cyclicality of air freight.

For an aspiring or transitioning pilot, the single most important thing to understand before reading any further is that Cargojet is not a passenger airline with a cargo sideline. It is a pure freight operator whose schedule is built around when parcels need to move, which is overnight. That fact colours everything that follows: the pay structure, the roster, the lifestyle, the type of flying, and the kind of pilot who thrives here. Much of the granular detail below is drawn from Cargojet's own corporate filings, the airline's careers portal, ALPA's Cargojet pilot group page, and public pilot-pay databases. Where a figure is dated, estimated, or cannot be independently confirmed, that is flagged explicitly rather than smoothed over.

Cargojet operates an all-Boeing, all-freighter fleet, a deliberate strategy that keeps maintenance, training, and crew qualification streamlined. In its 2026 management circular the company states it owns and operates a fleet of 41 aircraft, built around two families: the narrowbody Boeing 757-200 freighter and the widebody Boeing 767-200 and 767-300 freighter. The great majority of these airframes are passenger-to-freighter conversions (designations such as PCF, BCF and BDSF), which is standard practice in air cargo and helps explain an estimated average fleet age in the high-20-year range according to independent tracker Planespotters.

A notable development arrived in July 2025, when Cargojet took delivery of its first factory-built Boeing 767-300F (registration C-FNPJ), rather than a conversion, with at least one further 767-300 reported as under conversion for delivery in 2026. Prospective applicants should also note an important correction to older online chatter: although Cargojet discussed adding Boeing 777 freighters several years ago, none appear in the company's current official fleet disclosures, so as of 2026 the airline does not operate the 777. Plan your career expectations around the 757 and 767, not the 777.

Fleet figures reconcile Cargojet's 2026 circular (41 aircraft owned/operated) with mid-2025 industry reporting. Counts are approximate and shift with conversions, deliveries, and lease activity. Independent trackers list 43 to 45 airframes depending on parked and on-order aircraft.

Cargojet pilot pay is governed by a collective agreement and is structured around position (First Officer or Captain), aircraft type, and years of service. The detailed ALPA pay table is not posted publicly, so the figures below blend the most reliable open sources: pilot-pay databases such as AirlinePilotCentral and PilotJobsNetwork, current Cargojet job postings, and aggregator data from Indeed and Glassdoor. All figures are in Canadian dollars and represent estimated annual gross pay, not take-home.

The pay system historically used a "727 scale" baseline (a legacy label that survives even though Cargojet no longer flies the 727), with fixed premiums layered on top for the larger aircraft: roughly +C$10,000 for Captains and +C$6,000 for First Officers on the 757, and +C$20,000 for Captains and +C$12,000 for First Officers on the 767. Compensation is rounded out by overtime, which AirlinePilotCentral reports is paid for flying beyond 85 flight hours per month or for work on a scheduled day off, plus per diems and a company incentive program tied to the most recent contract extension.

First Officer Pay (estimated annual gross, CAD)

Entry pay has clearly risen from the older published scales (which showed First Officers in the C$52,000 to C$69,000 range) following recent contract changes, so newer job-posting figures are weighted more heavily here.

Captain Pay (estimated annual gross, CAD)

Per diems are reported at roughly C$2.50 per duty hour domestic and C$3.50 per duty hour international (AirlinePilotCentral). Overtime above 85 flight hours per month lifts the better-earning years toward the top of each range. Glassdoor estimates a Cargojet Captain near C$150,500.

This is the section that separates Cargojet from a passenger career, and it deserves an honest reading. Cargojet's core domestic operation is intrinsically nocturnal. Parcels are collected during the business day, sorted in the evening, flown overnight, and delivered the next morning, so the bulk of line flying departs late at night and lands in the small hours or at dawn. Pilots routinely operate through the window of circadian low (roughly 02:00 to 06:00), when human alertness is naturally at its weakest. For some pilots, the trade of daytime freedom for night work is genuinely attractive; for others it is the hardest part of the job. Either way, you should go in clear-eyed.

Scheduling operates under Canada's flight and duty time rules in Part VII of the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs), administered by Transport Canada. For multi-crew operations these cap flight time at 112 hours in any 28 days, 300 hours in any 90 days, and 1,000 hours in any 365 days. Flight duty periods generally run between 9 and 13 hours depending on start time and number of sectors, can extend up to 18 hours for augmented crews with onboard rest facilities, and require a fatigue risk management system for anything beyond that. The regulations also build in specific protections around consecutive night duties and minimum rest, which is precisely the regime that governs an overnight cargo carrier.

On time off, the public picture is consistent if not perfectly precise. AirlinePilotCentral lists roughly 12 scheduled days off per month, while Pilot Career Centre frames it as approximately 15 work days per month (which implies a similar number of days off). Annual vacation begins at 15 days and rises to 18 days after 10 years of service. That is a solid but not generous package by global standards, and notably leaner than the long leave entitlements seen at major European flag carriers.

Illustrative only. Built to reflect the published ~12 to 15 days off per month and the overnight nature of the network, not an actual Cargojet bid line. Flying days typically begin in the evening and finish overnight or at dawn.

Domestic pairings are frequently out-and-back: a crew departs Hamilton or another base in the evening, operates one or several short sectors between Canadian cities through the night, and returns to base by morning, often with minimal or no away-from-base layover. The 757 in particular can string together multiple short legs with tight turnarounds to meet cargo cut-off and delivery commitments, which raises the number of takeoffs and landings and the workload per duty. Widebody 767 flying on transcontinental and international ACMI routes is the opposite shape: fewer, longer sectors, augmented crews with in-flight rest on the longest legs, and genuine layovers at the destination.

Cargojet's benefits package is a standard Canadian private-sector employer offering, strengthened by ALPA representation but more modest than the legacy schemes of large passenger flag carriers. The core elements are well documented; a few are not publicly detailed and are flagged below so you can confirm them directly.

Career movement at Cargojet follows the seniority-based model typical of unionized airlines: a pilot's number on the list drives upgrades, fleet bids, vacation, and schedule choices. There is, however, one defining difference from many flag carriers, and it is one of the most important facts for any applicant to absorb: Cargojet hires Direct-Entry Captains. The company actively advertises external Captain positions for pilots who meet its command minimums, which means the left seat is not filled exclusively by internal upgrade.

This cuts both ways. If you arrive with substantial heavy-jet command experience, you can potentially walk in as a Captain rather than waiting years behind a seniority list. If you join as a First Officer hoping to upgrade from within, direct-entry hiring can slow that path, because external Captains occupy commands that might otherwise have gone to internal pilots. Cargojet does not publish an average upgrade timeline, and with a relatively small pilot group of around 470, upgrade speed is sensitive to fleet growth, retirements, and the balance between internal promotion and external command hiring.

Cargojet recruits directly into First Officer and Captain seats rather than through an ab-initio cadet academy. There is no funded cadet pipeline of the kind run by some European flag carriers; instead, candidates apply against published experience minimums through the airline's careers portal and third-party pilot job boards. The two entry points have markedly different bars, reflecting the existence of direct-entry command hiring.

First Officer — Requirements

Captain (Direct Entry) — Requirements

Typical Hiring Flow

Glamorous layovers are one of the headline perks of passenger long-haul flying, so it is worth being direct: a cargo career is not built around them, and Cargojet is no exception. The honest picture is two distinct worlds of flying. The first is the domestic overnight network, which is the bread and butter of the operation and produces mostly out-and-back duties with little or no time at a destination. The second is the international ACMI and charter flying, which is where genuine layovers, and the variety some pilots love, actually appear.

The domestic network is a hub-and-spoke system anchored at Hamilton, with tightly coordinated overnight banks linking the major Canadian cities. Cargojet's locations and network materials reference stations including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Moncton, Halifax, and St. John's, among others. Crews push freight from regional sort centres to the central hub overnight and back out for morning delivery, then return to base, so the typical domestic "layover" is often just a rest stop, not a city visit.

Network segments confirmed from Cargojet filings and route disclosures. Specific layover hotels, durations, and city assignments are not published and are deliberately not invented here.

The China-Canada agreement with Great Vision HK Express, launched in May 2024 with a minimum of three flights per week on a 767-300F, is the clearest example of how international contract flying expands a Cargojet pilot's world beyond the overnight domestic grind. ACMI work by its nature is variable: routes, frequencies, and layover points shift with the customer's needs, which means the international flyer trades predictability for variety. Whether you get more domestic or more international flying depends on your fleet, your seniority, and the contract mix at the time.

Most Canadian pilots weigh a cargo career at Cargojet against the country's two major passenger carriers, Air Canada and WestJet, both also ALPA-represented. The radar below compares the three across five metrics. Scores are editorial estimates based on publicly available salary data, contract reporting, fleet information, and pilot feedback. They describe a general assessment for an experienced pilot weighing a long-term career, not a guarantee for any individual.

Key Takeaways from the Comparison

The passenger majors win on top-end pay. Air Canada First Officers start around C$87 per hour and its senior widebody Captains top out near C$424 per hour on the Boeing 777 under the 2024 ALPA contract, with senior 787 Captains reported around C$390 per hour. WestJet, after a contract delivering roughly 24% in raises across four years, sees top 787 Captains near C$335 per hour. Cargojet's estimated Captain ceiling of around C$150,000 to C$165,000 a year is competitive within the cargo segment and sits above the national pilot average, but it does not reach the heights of widebody passenger command.

Cargojet's edge is the on-ramp and the command path. A First Officer minimum near 1,000 hours total time is far more accessible than the experience pools that feed Air Canada and WestJet, and Cargojet's willingness to hire direct-entry Captains means an experienced pilot can reach the left seat without queueing behind a long seniority list. By contrast, Air Canada quotes 3 to 5 years to a narrowbody command and 11 to 15 years to widebody, while WestJet upgrades are commonly described in the 7 to 10 year range.

Work-life and benefits favour the passenger carriers. The overnight-heavy schedule is the single biggest quality-of-life cost at Cargojet, and the passenger majors offer broader benefits, staff travel, and in places richer retirement provisions. Cargojet's RRSP match of around 3% and lighter perks reflect its cargo cost structure.

Job security is a genuine Cargojet strength. A TSX-listed balance sheet, C$1 billion in 2024 revenue, and multi-year anchor contracts (Canada Post, Purolator, Amazon to 2029/2031, DHL reportedly to 2033) give the network a stable floor. For a pilot who values predictable employment and is comfortable flying at night, that stability is a meaningful counterweight to the lifestyle trade-offs.

Cargojet pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), the largest pilot union in North America. This is a relatively recent development and an important one for anyone evaluating the airline. For most of the past decade, Cargojet pilots were represented by Unifor (Local 7378), which negotiated the foundational pilot agreements. In 2025 the Canada Industrial Relations Board recognized ALPA as the pilots' bargaining agent, moving Cargojet into the same union framework that covers Air Canada, WestJet, and many North American cargo groups.

Contract Status & Negotiations

The collective agreement in force traces back to a Unifor-negotiated contract for July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023, which was later extended by 36 months to June 30, 2026 (with associated workload, scheduling, and incentive changes). On July 17, 2025, ALPA announced that Cargojet pilots had voted overwhelmingly to open negotiations early on a successor contract, well ahead of expiry. As of mid-2026, that successor agreement is the live issue, and it is the document that will define pay scales, roster protections, and benefits going forward. The published pay figures in this guide predate any new agreement and should be read in that light.

How the Framework Fits Together

Industrial Climate

The labour relationship has been businesslike rather than combative. Public sources show no pilot strikes, no strike-authorization votes, and no formal conciliation process at Cargojet through the current negotiating cycle. The original 2018 Unifor contract reportedly raised compensation by about 20% and included a no-strike, no-lockout commitment, and the 2019 extension added a retention bonus. There has been documented friction, notably a dispute over flight-and-duty-time fatigue-rule exemptions in which ALPA publicly criticized the arrangements before it represented the group, but that played out as a regulatory and inter-union safety debate rather than a work stoppage.