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

Allegiant Air, the US leisure airline, hires its pilots as First Officers, but at the last check, on 23 October 2026, its own careers page said that its First Officer application window was closed, with no date for reopening. The page gives no minimums; job-board copies of its posting, seen in search results that day, ask for an FAA Commercial certificate with multi-engine and instrument ratings, or an ATP, with the ATP-CTP course and a current ATP written, and the ATP experience: 1,500 hours, or 1,250, 1,000 or 750 under the restricted-ATP rules, with an FAA First Class medical, an age of at least 21, a passport book, a driver’s license and the right to work in the US. No type rating is needed: Allegiant’s page describes 10 to 12 weeks of training and three steps after you apply, a video interview with a review of your pilot records, a behavioral assessment and a virtual interview with regional chief pilots. Allegiant flies the Airbus A319 and A320 and the Boeing 737 MAX, and search results showed it completed its acquisition of Sun Country Airlines on 13 May 2026.

Is Allegiant Air hiring pilots now?

Not recruiting at the last check on 23 October 2026 — First Officer seat: Not recruiting; Captain seat: Unconfirmed. First Officer window closed at the last check; job-board copies of the posting ask for the ATP experience (1,500 h, or 750 to 1,250 h under the restricted-ATP rules) with the ATP-CTP and a current ATP written; FAA First Class; three published selection steps

Requirements, as published

Reading the requirements line by line

Allegiant’s own careers page, read on 23 October 2026, said its First Officer window was closed and gives no requirements, so the ones below are those of its Las Vegas First Officer posting as job boards copied it, undated, in search results that day; the FAA rules cited were read in the regulations themselves.

• A Commercial certificate or an ATP. The copies ask for an FAA Commercial pilot certificate with airplane multi-engine land and instrument ratings and the English Proficient endorsement, or an ATP with an airplane multi-engine rating, and some list the ATP as preferred. With the Commercial certificate you also need the ATP-CTP graduation certificate and a current ATP written, which can be taken only after the course (14 CFR 61.153). Part 121 lets no pilot serve as second in command without an ATP and the type rating for the aircraft (14 CFR 121.436), and the ATP can be issued together with a type rating (14 CFR 61.153), so a pilot hired with the Commercial certificate must hold both before flying the line.
• 1,500 hours, or the restricted-ATP figures. The copies ask for the ATP aeronautical experience: 1,500 hours if you are eligible under 14 CFR 61.159(a), or 1,250, 1,000 or 750 hours if you are eligible under 61.160, the restricted ATP’s rule, which allows 1,250 hours with an approved associate’s degree with an aviation major, 1,000 with an approved bachelor’s degree with an aviation major and 750 for a US military pilot. They also list the 61.159 sub-minimums: 250 hours in an airplane as pilot in command, including 100 hours cross-country and 25 at night, and 75 hours of instrument time. The rule itself lets second-in-command time spent performing the duties of pilot in command under supervision count toward the 250 (14 CFR 61.159).
• No conversion factors. The copies say every hour must be logged as 14 CFR 61.51 requires and that Allegiant accepts no conversion of flight hours, such as a 1.3 factor applied to rotorcraft time; military flight records may be used as additional evidence of experience. Total your logbook as it stands.
• 21, and what that means. The copies ask for an age of at least 21. A full ATP can be issued only from 23 and a restricted ATP from 21 (14 CFR 61.153), so at 21 or 22 you need to be eligible for the restricted ATP.
• The papers. An FAA First Class medical, an FCC radiotelephone license, a valid, unexpired passport book, a valid driver’s license and a criminal background check.
• Right to work, and no sponsorship. The copies ask that you be authorized to work in the US as the Immigration Act of 1986 defines it, and say that no visa sponsorship is available. Allegiant has recruited from abroad before: Reuters reported on 6 December 2025 that it employed about 62 pilots from Chile, Australia and Singapore on H-1B1 and E-3 visas, under a program begun in 2023, and that the pilots’ union had declined to certify a step their green-card applications needed. We could not confirm whether Allegiant still recruits that way.

Entry routes

• Direct entry First Officer — application window closed at the last check, on 23 October 2026
• Accelerate Pilot Pathway — students in the Part 141 programs of the 13 partner universities on Allegiant’s careers page, among them Purdue, Kent State, Ohio University, Western Michigan, Utah Valley, Liberty, the University of North Dakota, Florida Tech, Eastern Kentucky, Embry-Riddle Prescott and Arizona State Polytechnic: hired as a cadet with a conditional First Officer offer in the senior year, then an Allegiant-sponsored ATP-CTP once the hours are reached; at the last check the careers page said “The Allegiant Pilot Pathway Program application window is now closed” while its Accelerate section was still headed “Accepting cadets”
• Altitude Pilot Pathway — ab-initio training at McAir Aviation, a Spartan Education Group school in Colorado: a conditional First Officer offer and an Allegiant-sponsored ATP-CTP after the program, from age 19 (Allegiant’s listing, as search results showed it); application window closed at the last check, as the careers page’s Pilot Pathway Program notice reads
• Berry Aviation incentive program — Berry pilots qualified as PIC for at least 18 months enter Allegiant new-hire training directly
• Direct entry Captain — not published

The Accelerate and Altitude pathways, and Berry Aviation

Allegiant runs two pathways for pilots still in training. At the last check, on 23 October 2026, its careers page said “The Allegiant Pilot Pathway Program application window is now closed”, yet still headed its Accelerate section “Accepting cadets for the Accelerate Pilot Pathway”, with an application link for students of its partner universities, so ask your university’s aviation department which applies:

• Accelerate Pilot Pathway. For students in the Part 141 flight programs of partner universities: Allegiant’s careers page lists 13, among them Purdue, Kent State, Ohio University, Western Michigan, Utah Valley, Liberty, the University of North Dakota, Florida Tech, Eastern Kentucky, Embry-Riddle Prescott and Arizona State Polytechnic. On entering the senior year a student may be hired as a cadet with a conditional job offer as an Allegiant First Officer, and once the cadet reaches the required hours, Allegiant sponsors the ATP-CTP course, after which the cadet joins as a First Officer (Kent State and Eastern Kentucky). Cadets get pass travel on Allegiant flights, visits to its Las Vegas headquarters and access to its training centers; a 2023 article on Western Michigan’s partnership adds that each student is assigned an Allegiant mentor and that its graduates join with 1,000 hours, the restricted ATP’s figure for an approved bachelor’s degree. Job-board copies of Allegiant’s listing, seen in search results, also ask for an FAA private certificate with an instrument rating, a First Class medical, an FCC radiotelephone license, US work authorization and a background check.
• Altitude Pilot Pathway. Ab-initio training at McAir Aviation, a Spartan Education Group school in Colorado: Part 141 flight and ground training with leadership training and Level D jet simulator sessions, built with Allegiant (Spartan Education Group, which began accepting cadets in February 2023). Allegiant’s listing, as search results showed it, gives a conditional job offer as an Allegiant First Officer and an Allegiant-sponsored ATP-CTP after the program, with an age of at least 19, or 21 to attend the ATP-CTP. In March 2026 McAir reported that flight instructors in the pathway had completed Boeing and Airbus simulator assessments at Allegiant’s training center in Sanford, Florida.
• Berry Aviation. Allegiant’s newsroom, as search results showed it on 29 September 2026, announced an incentive program with Berry Aviation, under which Berry pilots qualified as pilot in command for at least 18 months enter Allegiant’s new-hire training directly. We did not re-check its terms on 23 October 2026.

Neither pathway skips the hours: a cadet joins once the ATP experience and the ATP-CTP are complete, so plan the instructing or other flying that builds them.

Allegiant, Sun Country and the largest US airlines

Allegiant beside the four largest US passenger airlines on our jobs board, as recorded at each airline’s last check:

Read the license column with the hours. Allegiant’s posting copies, like Delta’s requirements, accept a Commercial certificate with the ATP experience and a current ATP written, while American and United ask for the ATP itself, and Allegiant’s copies name the restricted-ATP figures beside the 1,500 hours.

On 13 May 2026 Allegiant Travel Company completed its acquisition of Sun Country Airlines, the Minneapolis–St Paul airline (ALPA, 13 May 2026, as search results showed it). The two pilot groups have different unions, the Teamsters at Allegiant and ALPA for Sun Country’s 670 pilots; before the closing ALPA said it would work with the Teamsters toward a fair integration of the two seniority lists, and we found no integrated list at the last check. Allegiant’s pilots ratified a two-year contract: the union announced on 3 August 2026 that Allegiant’s pilots, nearly 1,300 of them, had ratified it, that it raised average hourly pay by about 40% at once, and that the union would now turn to joint collective bargaining and the integration of the seniority lists (Fox5 Vegas). On its second-quarter results call, Allegiant’s chief executive said Sun Country was losing junior pilots based at Minneapolis–St Paul to the largest airline there and that it would cut off-peak flying from the Twin Cities (Skift, 5 August 2026, as search results showed it). Sun Country’s own requirements are in its entry on the jobs board.

Selection process

1. Application on Allegiant’s careers site, while the First Officer window is open
2. Video interview and PRD review (the FAA’s Pilot Records Database)
3. Behavioral assessment
4. Virtual interview with regional chief pilots

Bases and fleet

Bases: Las Vegas, Orlando Sanford, Phoenix-Mesa and Cincinnati, named in its FY2025 annual report (as search results showed it); Allegiant has many more bases and does not list its pilot bases on its careers pages, which say only that it has several domiciles and that its crews end every day back at their base · The Bellingham and Savannah/Hilton Head crew bases close on 2 November 2026, while flights from both airports continue (AeroXplorer, April 2026, as search results showed it)

Fleet: 123 aircraft at 31 December 2025: 79 Airbus A320s, 28 A319s and 16 Boeing 737-8200s (Allegiant Travel Company, Form 10-K for 2025, as search results showed it on 23 October 2026) · Boeing 737 MAX: 20 delivered by 30 June 2026, all in revenue service, with seven more expected in the second half of 2026 and the rest of the order for 50 in 2027 and 2028 (Form 10-Q, second quarter 2026, as search results showed it) · With Sun Country Airlines, acquired on 13 May 2026, the group had 193 aircraft at 30 June 2026: 105 A320-family aircraft, 66 Boeing 737 passenger aircraft and 22 Boeing 737 freighters (second-quarter 2026 results, as search results showed them)

How to prepare

Allegiant flies two families, so the A320 bank and the B737 bank below are the core of the technical preparation: the A319 and A320 make up most of the fleet and the 737 MAX is the second type, and job-board copies of an Allegiant posting describe non-type-rated A320 First Officers, so start with the Airbus and read the type in the next posting. The A320 and B737 interview sets carry the systems and scenario questions a technical interview draws on, and the 737 NG to MAX Difference Training course sets out what the MAX changes. If you apply with a Commercial certificate, the ATP-CTP and a current ATP written are part of the minimums, and the ATP bank covers the written test, with the Part 121, transport performance and turbine-systems questions. Allegiant’s careers page lists three steps after you apply: a video interview with a review of your records in the FAA’s Pilot Records Database, a behavioral assessment and a virtual interview with regional chief pilots. Prepare them with the US airline interview set, whose hiring-process questions cover the Pilot Records Database, and the CRM interview set: short, true stories, told first to a camera and then to chief pilots on a video call, with nothing your records contradict (the Library’s airline pilot recruitment and selection explains what the database holds). While the First Officer window is closed, do the paperwork: total your hours as they are logged, with no conversion factors, and have the ATP-CTP certificate, your written result, the First Class medical, the FCC radiotelephone license, a passport book and a driver’s license ready for when they reopen.

Allegiant has no interview guide on v1prep yet, so for the interview read the complete airline pilot interview guide and the Library’s competency-based pilot interviews and airline simulator assessment. Our FAA ATP written test guide covers the ATP-CTP and the test, the restricted ATP explained sets out the 750, 1,000 and 1,250-hour routes the posting copies name, and the Library’s FAA Part 121 air carrier operations explains the rules an Allegiant First Officer flies under. For the aircraft, start with the Library’s A320 flight deck design philosophy and our 737 NG to MAX Difference Training course. The whole route from zero hours is on how to become an airline pilot in the USA, and another US airline flying the A320 family is on Frontier Airlines pilot requirements. Check Allegiant’s entry on the jobs board for the latest status.

What we could not confirm

• The requirements here (certificate, hours, age, documents, right to work) come from undated job-board copies of Allegiant’s First Officer posting, read in search results on 23 October 2026, not from Allegiant’s own site: its careers page, read that day, gives no hours or certificate while the First Officer window is closed, and the copies differ on pay and on the preferred experience. Confirm them in the posting when the window reopens.
• When the next First Officer window opens — Allegiant publishes no date
• Whether the Accelerate Pilot Pathway is taking applications: Allegiant’s careers page, read on 23 October 2026, said “The Allegiant Pilot Pathway Program application window is now closed” but still headed its Accelerate section “Accepting cadets for the Accelerate Pilot Pathway”, with an application link for partner-university students
• Whether Allegiant accepts each restricted-ATP tier for direct entry: the job-board copies name 1,250, 1,000 and 750 hours, Allegiant’s own page gives no hours, and a 2023 article describes Accelerate cadets from Western Michigan joining at 1,000 hours
• Whether Allegiant still recruits pilots on visas: the job-board copies of its posting say no visa sponsorship is available, while Reuters reported in December 2025 that about 62 pilots from Chile, Australia and Singapore were employed on H-1B1 and E-3 visas and that the pilots’ union had declined to certify a step their green-card applications needed
• Whether Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines will put their pilots on one seniority list, and when: the two pilot groups have different unions, and the Teamsters said in August 2026 that seniority-list integration was their next focus; we found no integrated list or joint contract at the last check
• Whether the Berry Aviation incentive program still runs on the terms announced: not re-checked on 23 October 2026
• Whether Allegiant advertises direct-entry Captains at other times

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 Allegiant Air hiring pilots? Not at the last check, on 23 October 2026. Allegiant’s own pilot careers page said that its First Officer application window was closed, with no date for reopening, as search results had shown on 29 September 2026. Check the careers page for the next window; Allegiant publishes no date.

How many hours do you need to fly for Allegiant? Allegiant’s own careers page gives no figure while the window is closed. Job-board copies of its First Officer posting, seen in search results on 23 October 2026, ask for the ATP aeronautical experience: 1,500 hours if you are eligible under 14 CFR 61.159(a), or 1,250, 1,000 or 750 hours if you are eligible for the restricted ATP under 61.160, with 250 hours in an airplane as pilot in command, including 100 hours cross-country and 25 at night, and 75 hours of instrument time. The copies say Allegiant accepts no conversion of flight hours, and some prefer 3,000 hours total and 1,000 hours of turbine time under Part 121.

Do you need an ATP to fly for Allegiant? Not to apply, as the posting copies word it: an FAA Commercial certificate with airplane multi-engine land and instrument ratings and the English Proficient endorsement meets it, with the ATP-CTP graduation certificate, a current ATP written and the ATP experience, and some copies list the ATP as preferred. Part 121 requires a First Officer to hold an ATP and the type rating for the aircraft before flying the line (14 CFR 121.436), and the ATP can be issued together with a type rating (14 CFR 61.153).

Does Allegiant sponsor visas for pilots? Allegiant’s own careers page says nothing on it. Job-board copies of its First Officer posting, seen in search results, say no visa sponsorship is available and ask that you be authorized to work in the US. Allegiant has hired from abroad before: Reuters reported on 6 December 2025 that it employed about 62 pilots from Chile, Australia and Singapore on H-1B1 and E-3 visas, under a program begun in 2023. We could not confirm whether it still recruits that way.

Does Allegiant have a cadet program? Two. The Accelerate Pilot Pathway is for students in the Part 141 programs of the 13 partner universities on Allegiant’s careers page, among them Purdue, Kent State, Western Michigan, Eastern Kentucky and the University of North Dakota: a cadet hired in the senior year gets a conditional First Officer offer and an Allegiant-sponsored ATP-CTP once the hours are reached. The Altitude Pilot Pathway is ab-initio training at McAir Aviation, a Spartan Education Group school in Colorado, with a conditional First Officer offer. At the last check, on 23 October 2026, Allegiant’s careers page said its Pilot Pathway Program application window was closed, while still inviting partner-university students to apply to Accelerate.