Air New Zealand Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, License and Hiring Process

Air New Zealand brings its pilots in through its turboprops: entry is typically as a First Officer on the ATR 72-600 or the Dash 8 Q300, and jet vacancies are filled mostly by transfer from those fleets under its Regional Pilot Priority Process. The turboprop expression of interest asks for an NZCAA CPL or ATPL with a multi-engine instrument rating, 500 hours total with 25 at night and 40 of instrument flight time, the Basic Turbine Knowledge exam, an NZCAA Class 1, Level 6 English and New Zealand citizenship or residence, or Australian citizenship. At the last check, on 17 October 2026, Air New Zealand’s careers site listed it and one for the jet fleet, which takes a small number of outside pilots from 1,500 hours; the turboprop one said the airline already had a strong pool of applicants and that the process can take some time, and the Mangōpare cadetship was closed to applications. At 30 April 2026 the airline flew 31 ATR 72-600s, 23 Q300s, 37 A320-family jets, 14 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-300ERs (its fleet page).

Is Air New Zealand hiring pilots now?

Talent pool at the last check on 17 October 2026 — First Officer seat: Talent pool; Captain seat: Not offered. Expressions of interest: turboprop First Officers (ATR 72-600 or Dash 8 Q300) from 500 h; jet seats fill mostly from the turboprops under the Regional Pilot Priority Process, with outside pilots from 1,500 h taken from time to time

Requirements, as published

Reading the turboprop requirements line by line

• 500 hours, with 25 at night and 40 of instrument time. That is two and a half times the New Zealand CPL minimum of 200 hours, or more than three times the 150 of an approved course (Part 61), so a pilot fresh from a CPL course has hours to build first. The night and instrument figures are minimums of their own: total them on separate lines of your logbook.
• An NZCAA license, held before the offer. A CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating is the minimum, and Air New Zealand’s pilot careers page asks for the instrument rating, NZCAA or CASA, to be current; an ATPL, or all the ATPL subjects passed, is preferred, not required. Foreign-issued qualifications may be converted, but the NZCAA licenses must be in hand before an offer of employment, and a pilot converting one must complete the initial foreign license conversion process through Aspeq, and send its initial assessment letter, before being invited to interview. Australian CPL and ATPL holders can have an equivalent New Zealand license issued under the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Arrangement, with a New Zealand Class 1 (CAA); since 18 May 2026 an exemption has let them use the rest of their Australian Class 1’s validity first.
• BTK/BGT. The Basic Turbine Knowledge exam, which Part 61 requires before a first type rating on a turbine-powered aircraft. Pass it before you apply if your CPL course did not include it.
• Level 6 English. Level 6 is the expert level of ICAO’s six-level scale, the one ICAO does not ask to be re-tested; a Level 4 or 5 endorsement does not meet the expression of interest.
• Citizenship or residence. New Zealand citizens, permanent residents and residents, and Australian citizens; the expression of interest mentions no visa sponsorship and asks that you can travel overseas, with a valid passport and any visas you need. Every pilot also goes through Police and Aviation Security vetting.

How those minimums compare with the region’s other airlines on our jobs board, as recorded at each airline’s last check:

Read the right-to-work column first, then the hours: an airline you cannot work for is not an option at any number of hours.

Entry routes

• Expression of interest — First Officer, turboprop fleet (ATR 72-600 or Dash 8 Q300), from 500 h; the usual way in, with a strong pool of applicants already (careers site, read 17 October 2026)
• Expression of interest — jet fleet: Second Officer on the 787/777 or First Officer on the A320/A321, filled mostly by internal transfer from the turboprops under the Regional Pilot Priority Process; outside applicants from 1,500 h with 12 months of multi-crew command or jet time, up to 10% of new jet pilots in normal circumstances
• Mangōpare Air New Zealand Pilot Cadetship — ab initio for New Zealand citizens, about 14 months to an ATR 72-600 type rating, mostly funded by Air New Zealand; first intake of 30 from September 2024; applications closed at the last check, another cadetship being developed (cadetship site, read 17 October 2026)
• Direct entry Captain — not offered

From the turboprops to the jets

Air New Zealand’s jet seats are Second Officer on the 787 or 777 and First Officer on the A320 or A321. Its jet expression of interest says those vacancies are filled predominantly by internal transfer from the turboprop fleets under the Regional Pilot Priority Process (RPPP), and that it still hires a small number of pilots from outside from time to time: in normal circumstances, up to 10% of new jet pilots. An outside applicant needs 1,500 hours total, including 100 hours on multi-engine airplanes, 100 hours ATO (not asked of military applicants), 40 hours of instrument time and 25 at night; an NZCAA ATPL, or a CPL with current passes in all the ATPL subjects; a multi-engine instrument rating, an NZCAA Class 1, the BTK/BGT exam and Level 6 English; and one of these:

• at least 12 months of multi-crew, multi-turbine-engine command on turboprops of at least 7,765 kg maximum certified takeoff weight, the weight of a Beech 1900D, flown under IFR in Part 121 or Part 125 operations or the equivalent weight category;
• at least 12 months as a jet First Officer, or experience as a jet Captain, in Part 121 or Part 125 operations or the equivalent weight category;
• at least 12 months of multi-crew, multi-turbine fixed-wing command with the RNZAF or another air force, on aircraft at least in the weight category of those turboprops.

The jet expression of interest is open to New Zealand citizens, permanent residents and residents, and to Australian citizens and permanent residents. To keep the priority for internal transfers, outside applicants who have flown turboprops for Air New Zealand, Mount Cook Airline, Air Nelson or Eagle Airways in the last eight years are not eligible. Air New Zealand keeps two seniority lists, one for jet pilots and one for turboprop pilots, and every new jet pilot, from outside or from the turboprops, starts at the bottom of the jet list, an outside pilot below any turboprop pilot appointed to a jet course that starts the same day. If it cannot release turboprop pilots to the jets fast enough and has reached its external ratio, it can keep hiring from outside while reserving jet-list places for its turboprop pilots, four above each outside pilot. A candidate converting a foreign license may be interviewed before the NZCAA licenses are issued, but must hold them before starting. The expression of interest lists its stages: screening against the minimum standards, an online cognitive assessment, a two-day assessment center in Auckland, pre-employment checks and an offer. A copy on a job board showed it posted on 10 October 2026.

The Mangōpare Air New Zealand Pilot Cadetship

Air New Zealand launched its own route from no experience in June 2024: the Mangōpare Air New Zealand Pilot Cadetship, about 14 months instead of the usual 24 to 36, with flight training on single- and multi-engine aircraft in Arizona, at AeroGuard in Phoenix, then the ATR 72-600 type rating and multi-crew training in Dubai with Ansett Aviation Training. It was open to New Zealand citizens over 18 with NCEA Level 2 with merit, or equivalent, who passed a medical, a Level 6 English language proficiency test and an assessment. The first intake was 30 cadets, the first of them leaving in September 2024 (Air New Zealand, 2024).

Air New Zealand funded most of the cost, training and living expenses included, subject to conditions; cadets funded about 20 to 30% through a bank loan that Air New Zealand helped them obtain, and a cadet who turned down an Air New Zealand offer or left within five years was to repay part of the airline’s funding (the 2024 terms, as Ansett Aviation Training set them out). Training in the United States does not license a cadet in New Zealand: the CAA says returning cadets complete the New Zealand CPL flight test and licensing requirements before they enter service, and that its standards have not changed for them. Aviation A2Z reported in August 2026 that several cadets had needed extra instruction to meet them, and that 28 of the 30 were still in training. At the last check, on 17 October 2026, the cadetship site said applications were closed and that Air New Zealand was developing another cadetship for aspiring pilots in New Zealand, with details still being confirmed.

Selection process

1. Application, assessed against the requirements of the pilot position; every pilot goes through the same standardized process, turboprop or jet (pilot careers page)
2. Online assessments: cognitive ability, reference and logbook assessment forms
3. A two-day recruitment event in Auckland: a simulator assessment, an interview, written assessments and a group exercise
4. Vetting: security and medical checks, including Police and Aviation Security vetting
5. Offer of employment

Bases and fleet

Bases: Turboprop First Officers: “a number of bases around the country”, not named in the expression of interest; a January 2020 campaign named Auckland, Christchurch, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Tauranga and Wellington · Jet fleet expression of interest: listed in Auckland

Fleet: Turboprops, the fleets new First Officers join: 31 ATR 72-600s and 23 Dash 8 Q300s (Air New Zealand’s fleet page, at 30 April 2026) · Jets: 17 A320ceos for domestic flying and 20 A320neos and A321neos, with 4 more on order; 14 Boeing 787s, with 10 more on order; 10 Boeing 777-300ERs (same page): 115 aircraft in operation and 14 on order in all · Two new 787s due in the 2026 financial year were moved to the first half of 2027 (Air New Zealand, 30 June 2026, as reported)

How to prepare

New First Officers join the ATR 72-600 or the Dash 8 Q300, so start with the ATR 72 bank for the ATR’s systems, its powerplant and propellers and its ice protection; there is no Q300 bank on v1prep. The jets come later, mostly from inside: the A320 bank below covers the A320ceo, the A320neo and the A321neo, with the A320ceo to neo quiz, and the B787 bank the 787, one of the two types a Second Officer joins; there is no 777 bank. Air New Zealand assesses every pilot through the same process, whichever expression of interest you answer: online cognitive ability, reference and logbook assessment forms, then a two-day recruitment event in Auckland with a simulator assessment, an interview, written assessments and a group exercise (its pilot careers page). So practice timed reasoning tests, revise the theory with the ATPL theory banks (they follow the EASA syllabus, not New Zealand’s; a preparation provider reported in November 2022 that Air New Zealand had assessed ATPL knowledge when hiring licensed pilots), and prepare the interview and the group exercise with the CRM interview set. Do the paperwork first: hold the NZCAA licenses before an offer, starting a foreign license’s conversion through Aspeq early, pass the Basic Turbine Knowledge exam if your CPL course did not include it, and total your logbook with night and instrument time on their own lines, since the online stage includes a logbook assessment.

Air New Zealand has no interview guide on v1prep yet, so for the assessment read the complete airline pilot interview guide and the Library’s airline pilot recruitment and selection and pilot aptitude tests. For the flying, the Library’s constant-speed propellers, governors and feathering and propeller ice protection cover the turboprop ground, and mountain waves the weather New Zealand’s ranges make. How seniority decides fleets, bases and command is set out in airline pilot ranks, seniority and scheduling. Across the Tasman, compare the Qantas Group pilot requirements, where QantasLink also starts at 500 hours, and how to become an airline pilot in Australia. Check Air New Zealand’s entry on the jobs board for the latest status.

What we could not confirm

• Read directly on 17 October 2026, through a GitHub runner: Air New Zealand’s pilot careers page, its two expressions of interest, the cadetship site and the fleet page. Researched on 17 October 2026 from search-engine results: the CAA’s rules, the cadetship’s 2024 terms and the press reports quoted on this page. Confirm the expression of interest is still open before you apply.
• How long an expression of interest stays under consideration, and how often turboprop courses are filled from it: the turboprop one says only that Air New Zealand has a strong pool of applicants and that an application may remain under consideration for some time
• What the jet expression of interest’s “100 hours ATO” counts: job-board copies read it as air transport operations, one as time with an approved training organization; Air New Zealand says only that it does not apply to military applicants
• Which bases take new turboprop First Officers: the expression of interest says only “a number of bases around the country”
• When the next cadetship opens and on what terms: Air New Zealand says it is developing one, with details still being confirmed; the 2024 terms (cadets funding about 20 to 30% of the cost through a bank loan, given as $53,500 by a training partner without naming the currency, and part repayment for a cadet who turned down an offer or left within five years) came from the launch and that partner
• Pay, and any bond for the type rating, for direct-entry pilots, which Air New Zealand does not publish

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 New Zealand hiring pilots? It was taking expressions of interest at the last check, on 17 October 2026. Its careers site listed one for First Officers on the turboprop fleet, the ATR 72-600 and the Dash 8 Q300, which said Air New Zealand already had a strong pool of applicants and that the process can take some time, and one for the jet fleet, whose vacancies are filled mostly by internal transfer from the turboprops. The Mangōpare cadetship site said applications were closed.

How many hours do you need to fly for Air New Zealand? 500 hours total for a turboprop First Officer, including 25 hours at night and 40 hours of instrument flight time. For the jet fleet, outside applicants need 1,500 hours total, including 100 multi-engine, 100 ATO (not asked of military applicants), 40 instrument and 25 night, and one of the external criteria of the Regional Pilot Priority Process, such as 12 months of multi-crew turboprop command.

Does Air New Zealand provide the type rating? Neither expression of interest asks for one. Air New Zealand’s pilot careers page says your type rating begins right after the introduction phase when you join, with classroom, computer-based and simulator training, and that the type rating and line training typically take three months. What you must hold first is an NZCAA license with a multi-engine instrument rating (for the jets, an ATPL or a CPL with current passes in all the ATPL subjects), an NZCAA Class 1 and the Basic Turbine Knowledge (BTK/BGT) exam.

Can Australians or foreign pilots fly for Air New Zealand? Australian citizens can apply to both expressions of interest, and the jet one also accepts Australian permanent residents; everyone else needs New Zealand citizenship, permanent residence or residence, and neither mentions visa sponsorship. The licenses must be NZCAA ones before an offer on the turboprops, and before you start on the jets: foreign licenses can be converted, starting with an initial assessment through Aspeq, and Australian CPL and ATPL holders can have an equivalent New Zealand license issued under the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Arrangement.

How do you become an Air New Zealand pilot with no experience? Air New Zealand’s route from no experience was the Mangōpare Air New Zealand Pilot Cadetship, launched in 2024 for New Zealand citizens: about 14 months of training, mostly in Arizona, ending with an ATR 72-600 type rating, with Air New Zealand funding most of the cost under conditions. At the last check, on 17 October 2026, its site said applications were closed and that Air New Zealand was developing another cadetship, with details still being confirmed. Until then, the way in is a CPL and 500 hours, then the turboprop expression of interest.