Air Arabia Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, License and Hiring Process

Air Arabia, the Sharjah-based low-cost group, flies only the Airbus A320 family: 92 A320s and A321s on its fleet page, as AFM reported in August 2026, from bases in the UAE, Morocco, Egypt and Pakistan and, since September 2026, a new airline in Dammam, Saudi Arabia (WAM). In 2026, as job boards copied its postings, it recruited experienced pilots through drives held country by country, for pilots based where the drive was: in South Africa, Vietnam and Indonesia, type-rated A320 Captains with 4,000 hours, 800 of them on the A320 family, at 60 or younger, and type-rated First Officers with 1,500 hours on the A320 family. The last open day we found for the Dammam airline was in Bahrain on 1 October 2026, and its First Officer posting on Air Arabia’s careers site was marked filled at the last check, on 22 October 2026, when we could not confirm a drive open to pilots from abroad. Without a rating, the route we could confirm is the Air Arabia Academy cadet MPL, which opened applications for its 2027 intakes in August 2026.

Is Air Arabia hiring pilots now?

Unconfirmed at the last check on 22 October 2026 — First Officer seat: Unconfirmed; Captain seat: Unconfirmed. Type-rated A320 Captains (4,000 h, 800 on the A320 family) and First Officers (1,500 h on the A320 family) recruited through drives held country by country in 2026, as job boards copy the postings; a cadet MPL at Air Arabia Academy for pilots without a rating

Requirements, as published

Reading the requirements line by line

The figures below come from job-board copies of Air Arabia’s 2026 postings and from the press, read in search results on 22 October 2026; the postings themselves were not among the Air Arabia pages we could read.

• Hours on the type, not in total. On the 2026 drives in South Africa, Vietnam and Indonesia, a First Officer needed 1,500 hours on the A320 family itself, with no total-time figure, and a Captain 4,000 hours in total, 800 of them on the A320 family. Time on other types counts toward a Captain’s 4,000 hours in total but toward neither A320 figure. Other campaigns asked less of First Officers: 750 hours on the A320 family for the Dammam airline (AFM, September 2025) and 800 on the drive in Argentina and Chile (AirInsight, March 2026).
• A rating held, and at least a frozen ATPL. The drives in South Africa, Vietnam and Indonesia asked for a valid A320 type rating. On the South African and Indonesian ones a First Officer could apply with a frozen ATPL, that is a CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating and every ATPL theory exam passed; the copy of the Vietnamese one we saw asked for a CPL or ATPL with the A320 instrument rating.
• Where you live decides which drive you can attend. Each drive was open only to pilots based in its country and able to meet the team in person, so a drive elsewhere is not a route for you; watch for one in your own country.
• Each airline of the group has its own terms. Air Arabia’s pilots fly for the group’s separate airlines, in Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, Abu Dhabi, Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan and now Saudi Arabia, and its pilots page speaks of transfers between the group’s air operator certificates and of choosing your base hub. The terms we found differ by airline: the Dammam First Officer post, as a job board copied it, preferred Saudi nationals and pilots already based in the GCC, preferred a GACA license and stated that no visa was sponsored; Fly Jinnah, in Pakistan, hires on 15-month fixed-term contracts, as job boards copy its posts; and the Sharjah roles that job boards copied in 2026 were for UAE nationals.
• Age 60 for Captains, English Level 4 and a Class 1. The drives set a maximum age of 60 for Captains and asked for English at Level 4 or better and a Class 1 medical. Level 4 is the ICAO minimum for pilots who fly internationally, and ICAO recommends re-evaluating it at least every three years.

Entry routes

• Direct entry Captain A320, type-rated, through drives held country by country for pilots based there (South Africa, Vietnam and Indonesia in 2026, as job boards copy the postings)
• Type-rated First Officer A320, through the same drives
• Air Arabia DMM (Dammam): type-rated A320 Captains and First Officers, Saudi nationals and GCC-based pilots preferred, as job boards copy the postings; open days in Dammam (25 June 2026) and Bahrain (1 October 2026); the First Officer posting on Air Arabia’s careers site (job 17045) was filled at the last check, on 22 October 2026
• Air Arabia Academy cadet MPL (formerly T3 Aviation Academy, Sharjah): about 20 to 24 months of training, then 1,500 flying hours with Air Arabia toward the ATPL; applications open for the 2027 intakes (AFM, August 2026)
• CPL Airline Programme, seen only in search results of Air Arabia’s careers site (22 October 2026): CPL holders obtain the A320 type rating and fly 750 hours with the group’s airlines; entry terms and intake dates not found

Air Arabia beside the UAE and Gulf airlines

Air Arabia beside four Gulf airlines on our jobs board, as recorded at each airline’s last check:

Read the type-rating column first: Air Arabia’s 2026 drives wanted the A320 rating already held, so the hours alone did not open them, while the cadet MPL below is the route we could confirm for pilots without one.

Without a type rating: the cadet MPL, and a CPL program seen in search results

One route for pilots who do not yet hold an A320 rating is confirmed by the academy and the press; a second appears only in search results of Air Arabia’s careers site:

• The cadet MPL. Air Arabia Academy in Sharjah, formerly T3 Aviation Academy, trains cadets from ab initio for a multi-crew pilot license (MPL) in about 20 to 24 months, and the cadets then fly 1,500 hours with Air Arabia toward an ATPL. Part of the core flying is done with partner schools in Europe, such as F AIR in the Czech Republic, where a batch of 10 cadets began it in June 2026, and Professional Aviation Academy in Italy. The academy opened applications for its 2027 intakes in August 2026, including to recent high-school graduates, and says it has more than 800 cadets and more than 500 graduates who went on to fly with Air Arabia (AFM, 24 August 2026).
• A CPL Airline Programme. Search results of Air Arabia’s “Grow at Air Arabia” careers page, on 22 October 2026, describe a program in which CPL holders obtain the A320 type rating and fly 750 hours with the group’s airlines. We could not read that page, and the Group’s pilots page, which we did read, lists CPL and A320 type-rating courses at Air Arabia Academy but names no such program, so confirm that it is open, and on what terms, before you plan on it.

Neither the cost nor the age and nationality rules of either program were on the pages we could see, and third-party guides disagree, so ask the academy before you commit. An MPL is a license built around one airline’s multi-crew operation, so read the training contract as carefully as the course.

Selection process

1. Online application on Air Arabia’s careers site for the drive, open day or vacancy; for a drive, only pilots based in that country and able to attend in person (as job boards copy the 2026 postings)
2. A meeting with Air Arabia’s Pilot Talent Acquisition Team at the drive or open day, whose venue and schedule are sent to applicants a few days before (job-board copies of the 2026 postings)
3. For the Dammam airline: technical, psychometric and medical assessments to Air Arabia’s and GACA’s standards (job-board copy of the First Officer post)

Bases and fleet

Bases: Sharjah, Air Arabia’s home, and Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) · Abu Dhabi: Air Arabia Abu Dhabi · Morocco: Air Arabia Maroc, from Casablanca; Egypt: Air Arabia Egypt, from Alexandria · Pakistan: Fly Jinnah, from Karachi · Saudi Arabia: Air Arabia DMM, the Dammam airline of a consortium led by Air Arabia with Nesma Group and KUN Holding, flying from King Fahd International Airport since 20 September 2026 (WAM)

Fleet: 92 Airbus aircraft across the group’s airlines on Air Arabia’s fleet page, as AFM reported it on 24 August 2026: 78 A320ceos, five A320neos, three A321ceos and six A321neos · The first A320neo was delivered to Sharjah in September 2025 and entered service on 1 October 2025 (WAM) · On order since November 2019: 120 A320neo-family aircraft, 73 A320neos, 27 A321neos and 20 A321XLRs; the first A321XLR was expected in 2027 (ch-aviation, 2024) · Air Arabia DMM received its GACA air operator certificate on 14 September 2026 and plans 45 aircraft by 2030 (Gulf News)

How to prepare

Air Arabia flies only the A320 family, so the A320 bank below is the core preparation whichever of its airlines you join, with the A320ceo to neo quiz for the A320neos and A321neos now joining the fleet. On the 2026 drives, as job boards copied them, a First Officer’s 1,500 hours and a Captain’s 800 had to be on the A320 family itself, so total your logbook by type, not only in total, before you apply, and check that your rating is valid. Air Arabia publishes no detailed selection on the pages we read; the Dammam airline’s First Officer post, as a job board copied it, named technical, psychometric and medical assessments, so practice timed aptitude tests and prepare competency examples, with the CRM interview set for crew resource management. A cadet starting on the A320 should build the theory first with the ATPL theory banks, then the systems. Apply through Air Arabia’s own careers site, and never give bank or card details to anyone who offers you a job.

Air Arabia has no interview guide on v1prep yet, so for a drive or an open day read the complete airline pilot interview guide and the Library’s pilot aptitude tests and competency-based pilot interviews. For the aircraft, our A320ceo to neo Difference Training course covers what the neo changes, the Library’s A320 flight control laws and protections the fly-by-wire laws behind many Airbus technical questions, and our top 25 A320 type rating questions are a quick check; for the cadet route, the Library’s CPL, ATPL and MPL explains the license. The other UAE airlines are on pilot jobs in the UAE, and the airlines that train pilots on type on non-type-rated First Officer jobs. Check Air Arabia’s entry on the jobs board for the latest status.

What we could not confirm

• Researched on 22 October 2026 from search-engine results of the airline’s own careers pages, job postings and industry job boards — not from a direct read of the portal; the Air Arabia pages downloaded that day (the careers home page, the Group’s pilots page and the Dammam First Officer posting, marked filled) give no hours, ratings or dates. Confirm the vacancy is still open before you apply.
• Whether a drive or vacancy open to pilots from abroad is open now: the last we found were in South Africa (August 2026), Vietnam and Indonesia (September 2026) and, for the Dammam airline, Bahrain (1 October 2026); a drive in Malaysia in December 2026 appeared on one job board only
• The posting dates of the Sharjah roles for UAE nationals and whether they are still open, and the date of the Dammam First Officer post, marked filled on Air Arabia’s careers site on 22 October 2026
• Whether the Dammam Captain post needs a type rating: one job-board copy says it is not required and training is provided, while the open days were for type-rated pilots
• Contract terms, pay and visa for pilots hired from abroad, which differ by operating company; job-board figures are not confirmed by Air Arabia
• The CPL Airline Programme, seen only in a search-result summary of Air Arabia’s “Grow at Air Arabia” page: whether it is open, its entry terms, cost and intakes, and whether its pilots join as First or Second Officers
• The cadet MPL’s age limits, nationality rules and cost, and the rank cadets hold after the 1,500-hour training contract: third-party guides differ, and Air Arabia publishes no figure on the pages we could see
• How the 92 aircraft divide between the group’s airlines, and the deliveries still due in 2026

These points are not published clearly by the airline. Treat them as leads, not facts, and confirm them on the careers page: careers page.

Common questions

Is Air Arabia hiring pilots? Unconfirmed at the last check, on 22 October 2026. Through 2026 Air Arabia recruited experienced A320 pilots with drives held country by country, for pilots based there: First Officers in Argentina and Chile in March (AirInsight), and type-rated Captains and First Officers in South Africa in August and in Vietnam and Indonesia in September, as job boards copied the postings; a job board also copied an open day for its new Dammam airline in Bahrain on 1 October 2026. The Dammam First Officer posting on Air Arabia’s careers site was marked filled on 22 October 2026, and we could not confirm a later drive open to pilots from abroad, so check Air Arabia’s careers site for the next one.

How many hours do you need to fly for Air Arabia? On the 2026 drives in South Africa, Vietnam and Indonesia, as job boards copied the postings: 4,000 hours in total with 800 on the A320 family for a Captain, and 1,500 hours on the A320 family for a First Officer, both with a valid A320 type rating. The Dammam airline asked First Officers for 750 hours on the A320 family (AFM, September 2025).

Does Air Arabia take pilots without a type rating? Not on the 2026 drives in South Africa, Vietnam and Indonesia, which asked for a valid A320 rating, as job boards copied them. Pilots without one can apply to the Air Arabia Academy cadet MPL in Sharjah, which opened applications for its 2027 intakes in August 2026 (AFM). Search results of Air Arabia’s careers site also describe a CPL Airline Programme that trains CPL holders on the A320 and builds 750 hours with the group’s airlines, but we could not read that page, so confirm it with Air Arabia.

Does Air Arabia sponsor visas for pilots? Air Arabia publishes no general rule on the pages we read: its pilots page lists relocation assistance and help with housing and settling in, but says nothing about visas. The Dammam First Officer post, as a job board copied it, stated that no visa was sponsored and preferred Saudi nationals and pilots based in the GCC, and the 2026 drives were open only to pilots based in each drive’s country and, in what we saw, said nothing about visas. Ask the recruitment team before you accept an offer.

What is the Air Arabia cadet pilot program? Air Arabia Academy in Sharjah, formerly T3 Aviation Academy, trains cadets from ab initio for a multi-crew pilot license in about 20 to 24 months; the cadets then fly 1,500 hours with Air Arabia toward an ATPL. It opened applications for its 2027 intakes in August 2026, including to recent high-school graduates (AFM). We could not confirm the cost, the age limits, the nationality rules or the rank cadets hold after the 1,500 hours.