airBaltic Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, License and Hiring Process

airBaltic, the Latvian airline, flies a single type, the Airbus A220-300, from Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, and has been restructuring under Chapter 11 in a New York court since 14 September 2026, with its flights continuing (CAPA and other aviation press, 14 September 2026). ch-aviation reported in August 2026 that its plan shrinks the fleet from 54 to about 36 aircraft by the end of 2026, and AeroTime reported on 29 October 2026 that airBaltic plans to make about 100 pilots redundant, numbers the airline said were not final. At the last check, on 11 November 2026, airBaltic’s own pages for its Captain, Senior First Officer and experienced First Officer vacancies, and for its Pilot Academy, said “Applications are currently closed here”, so neither seat is open. Its last Captain and Senior First Officer vacancies took pilots with or without an A220 rating. Its Pilot Academy trains cadets to a CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating and a frozen ATPL. Its pilot offer of 1 January 2026 added a commuting roster for pilots who live away from its bases.

Is airBaltic hiring pilots now?

Not recruiting at the last check on 11 November 2026 — First Officer seat: Not recruiting; Captain seat: Not recruiting. All-A220-300 airline in Chapter 11 since 14 September 2026: its pilot vacancy and Pilot Academy pages said applications were closed on 11 November 2026, after AeroTime reported about 100 pilot redundancies planned (29 October 2026)

Chapter 11 and the pilot cuts

airBaltic’s hiring has to be read against its restructuring. What was reported, and when:

• 14 September 2026: airBaltic filed for Chapter 11 protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, with EUR 350 million of debtor-in-possession financing, said its flights continue as scheduled and expects to leave Chapter 11 around June 2027 (CAPA and other aviation press, 14 September 2026).
• The fleet: ch-aviation reported in August 2026 that airBaltic’s plan cuts its A220-300 fleet from 54 to about 36 aircraft by the end of 2026.
• 29 October 2026: AeroTime reported that airBaltic plans to make about 100 pilots and 200 cabin crew redundant, with the pilot cuts at its Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius bases, and that airBaltic said the numbers were not final.

On 11 November 2026, airBaltic’s own pages for its Captain, Senior First Officer and experienced First Officer talent-pool vacancies, and for its Pilot Academy, each said “Applications are currently closed here.” Its careers news still carries older hiring articles, such as the 2024 Captain vacancy with a sign-up bonus for pilots who joined between 1 September 2024 and 31 May 2025, and its pilot offer, effective 1 January 2026, came before the restructuring, so read any airBaltic vacancy or article you find with its date, and check airBaltic’s careers site before you apply.

Requirements, as published

Reading the requirements line by line

The requirements above are those of airBaltic’s pilot vacancies as search results showed them before the vacancies closed; when we read airBaltic’s own pages on 11 November 2026, they said only that applications were closed. Read each line with that in mind:

• An ATPL, or a frozen one. A frozen ATPL is a CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating and the ATPL theory exams passed. The full ATPL(A) needs 1,500 hours of flight time in airplanes, at least 500 of them in multi-pilot operations, under Europe’s aircrew rules (FCL.510.A), so a frozen ATPL is what a pilot fresh from training usually holds; airBaltic’s own Pilot Academy trains its cadets to exactly that, a CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating and a frozen ATPL (airBaltic Training).
• Hours: none confirmed. The hours of airBaltic’s Captain, Senior First Officer and experienced First Officer vacancies are among the points we could not confirm: job boards’ copies give figures, but airBaltic’s own pages were closed when we read them. Its careers news described the Senior First Officer route as a way to command within one year. If your hours are on other airliners, CS-25 large airplane certification explains the category the A220 is certified in.
• The A220 rating: rated and non-rated pilots. airBaltic’s last Captain and Senior First Officer vacancies were for type-rated and non-type-rated pilots (“TR/NTR” in their titles), and airBaltic Training runs A220-300 type rating courses. Who pays for a non-rated pilot’s rating, and whether a training bond applies, we could not confirm.
• A Class 1 and English. An EASA Class 1 is valid for 12 months, and for 6 months from the age of 60 (MED.A.045); English must be at ICAO Level 4 or above. No other language was named.
• The right to work, and the commuting roster. The vacancies, as search results showed them, asked for the right to work in the EU or EEA. airBaltic’s pilot offer, effective 1 January 2026, added a commuting roster “to attract foreign pilots” without moving to one of its bases, but it does not say that a pilot without an EU or EEA right to work is considered. The Pilot Academy’s self-sponsored course asks for an EU, EEA or Swiss passport, or for non-EU citizens two years of residence in the EU (airBaltic Training).

Entry routes

• Experienced First Officer A220: a talent pool on airBaltic’s careers site; its page said applications were closed on 11 November 2026
• Senior First Officer A220 with fast-track command, type-rated or non-type-rated (TR/NTR in the vacancy’s title): captaincy within one year, by airBaltic’s careers news; the vacancy page said applications were closed on 11 November 2026
• Direct entry Captain A220, type-rated or non-type-rated (TR/NTR): a vacancy announced in 2024 with a sign-up bonus for joining between 1 September 2024 and 31 May 2025 (airBaltic careers news); the vacancy page said applications were closed on 11 November 2026
• airBaltic Pilot Academy — ab-initio, no flying experience needed, to a CPL with a multi-engine IR and a frozen ATPL; cadets paid EUR 25,000 for the ATPL theory and 45 flight hours, and airBaltic financed the rest by a loan once they had passed its pilot assessment and joined the company (airBaltic Training, 5 November 2025); the academy’s page on airBaltic’s careers site said applications were closed on 11 November 2026

airBaltic beside its peers

airBaltic beside the other A220 employers on our jobs board, its neighbors and the airlines we compare it with, as recorded at each airline’s last check:

Read each row with its date. Lufthansa City Airlines, whose first A220-300 was due in November 2026, listed a First Officer A220 vacancy on 8 November 2026, asking for an A220 rating and 500 hours on CS-25 aircraft or experience on other types; SWISS and Air France fly the A220 beside their other fleets; LOT has A220s on order from 2027; and we found no open Finnair vacancy for licensed pilots on 27 October 2026.

Selection process

The airline does not publish its selection stages in detail; expect an online application, screening against the published minimums, an interview and a simulator or aptitude assessment before the medical.

Bases and fleet

Bases: Riga · Tallinn · Vilnius · Tampere

Fleet: A220-300

How to prepare

airBaltic flies only the A220-300, so the A220 bank, its limitations and systems chapters, is the type preparation, and the Library’s A220 articles cover the same ground in prose: the A220 family and its limitations, its fly-by-wire flight controls and its flight deck and avionics. The routes that do not ask for the rating still assume the ATPL theory banks: a frozen ATPL is the ATPL theory exams passed on top of a CPL and a multi-engine instrument rating. If you would be trained on the A220, read class and type ratings: before a first type rating course on a multi-pilot airplane, Europe’s aircrew rules ask you, unless you are training on an MPL course, to have at least 70 hours as pilot in command in airplanes, to hold or have held a multi-engine instrument rating, to have passed the ATPL theory exams, to hold an MCC certificate (unless the course includes MCC) and to have completed an Advanced UPRT course (FCL.720.A), so have your MCC and upset prevention and recovery certificates ready to show. Who pays for the rating, and whether a bond applies, we could not confirm, so ask before you accept an offer. We found no published selection stages for airBaltic, so prepare for the usual shape: the Library’s airline pilot recruitment and selection, competency-based pilot interviews and airline simulator assessment cover the stages most airlines use, and the CRM interview set the crew resource management questions behind them.

airBaltic has no interview guide on v1prep yet, so for the selection read the complete airline pilot interview guide. The Library’s commercial and airline transport pilot licenses explains the frozen ATPL, and airline pilot ranks, seniority and scheduling what a Senior First Officer is and how rosters work. For other airlines flying or ordering the A220, read Lufthansa City Airlines pilot requirements and SWISS pilot requirements; for the region, Finnair and LOT Polish Airlines; and for the whole field, non-type-rated First Officer jobs and pilot jobs in Europe for non-EU citizens. Check airBaltic’s entry on the jobs board for the latest status.

What we could not confirm

• Read directly on 11 November 2026: airBaltic’s pages for its Captain, Senior First Officer and experienced First Officer vacancies and its Pilot Academy (each said applications were closed), its careers news and airBaltic Training’s pages. The vacancies’ requirements are those search results showed before they closed, and airBaltic’s pilots page could not be read. Confirm the vacancy is open before you apply.
• When airBaltic will reopen pilot applications, during its Chapter 11 restructuring and the pilot redundancies reported in October 2026
• The hours minimums of airBaltic’s Captain, Senior First Officer and experienced First Officer vacancies: job boards’ undated copies give 4,000 hours in all for Captains, 2,750 hours of commercial air transport and 1,500 hours on CS-25 aircraft for Senior First Officers and 300 hours for experienced First Officers, but airBaltic’s own pages, closed when read, did not show them
• Who pays for the A220 type rating of a pilot without one, and whether a training bond applies (job boards’ copies mention a three-year bond)
• Whether pilots without an EU or EEA right to work are considered: the commuting roster lets pilots live away from the bases, but the right-to-work rule of the vacancies was not read on airBaltic’s own pages
• When the Pilot Academy will take applications again, and whether its cadets still pay EUR 25,000 (airBaltic Training’s figure of 5 November 2025)
• Whether Tampere is still a permanent base (one analysis site says it became non-permanent in the first quarter of 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 airBaltic hiring pilots? Not at the last check, on 11 November 2026: airBaltic’s own pages for its Captain, Senior First Officer and experienced First Officer vacancies, and for its Pilot Academy, said applications were closed. airBaltic has been restructuring under Chapter 11 since 14 September 2026, and AeroTime reported on 29 October 2026 that it plans to make about 100 pilots redundant, in numbers airBaltic said were not final. Check airBaltic’s careers site for a reopening.

How many flight hours do you need to fly for airBaltic? We could not confirm a figure: airBaltic’s Captain, Senior First Officer and experienced First Officer vacancies were closed when we read them on 11 November 2026, and their hours are among the points we could not confirm. Its Pilot Academy takes cadets with no flying experience.

Do you need an A220 type rating to fly for airBaltic? Not on its last vacancies: airBaltic’s Captain and Senior First Officer vacancies were for pilots with or without an A220 rating (TR/NTR in their titles), and airBaltic Training runs A220-300 type rating courses. Who pays for a non-rated pilot’s rating, and whether a training bond applies, are among the points we could not confirm, so ask before you accept an offer.

Can non-EU pilots fly for airBaltic? Its vacancies, as search results showed them before they closed, asked for the right to work in the EU or EEA. airBaltic’s pilot offer, effective 1 January 2026, added a commuting roster so that pilots can fly for it without moving to one of its bases, but it does not say that pilots without an EU or EEA right to work are considered, so ask airBaltic before you apply. Its Pilot Academy’s self-sponsored course asks for an EU, EEA or Swiss passport, or for non-EU citizens two years of residence in the EU.

Does airBaltic have a cadet program? Yes: the airBaltic Pilot Academy trains cadets with no flying experience to a CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating and a frozen ATPL. Its cadets paid EUR 25,000 for the ATPL theory and 45 flight hours, and airBaltic financed the rest with a loan once they had passed its pilot assessment and joined the company (airBaltic Training, 5 November 2025). The academy’s page on airBaltic’s careers site said applications were closed on 11 November 2026, so check it before you apply.