Cargo Pilot Jobs 2026: 10 Airlines Flying Freighters, 4 of Them Cargo Airlines

10 of the 121 airlines on our jobs board fly freighters: 4 cargo airlines, Atlas Air, Cargolux, FedEx Express and UPS Airlines, whose pilots fly freighters, and 6 passenger airlines with a freighter fleet of their own or of a group airline. At the last check the First Officer status of all 4 cargo airlines was unconfirmed; 5 of the 6 passenger airlines had the First Officer seat open, recruiting or holding a pool, and 1 was unconfirmed. 8 of the 10 publish a First Officer entry for pilots without a type rating. This page lists each one with that status and its published minimum, then the routes onto the freighters in the airlines’ words, the fleets and what is changing in them, and the traps in a cargo vacancy: command time, feeder routes, passports and the Captain seat. An open First Officer seat at a passenger airline is not a freighter seat: where the airline names a route onto its freighters, we quote it as recorded.

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Interview study guides for freighter operators

One guide per airline for First Officer candidates: the airline, its selection process stage by stage, interview questions with answer guidance, and the technical knowledge the panel tests. €4.99 each, or all 10, including Qatar Airways (bundle only), for €19.99. Instant PDF download; no refunds once delivered.

Etihad AirwaysDirect Entry First Officer
29-page PDF · 74 interview questionsGet the PDF · €4.99 →Cathay PacificDirect Entry First Officer
30-page PDF · 64 interview questionsGet the PDF · €4.99 →

The cargo airlines (4)

Airlines that carry cargo only, or almost only, so the pilots they hire fly freighters. The freighter column lists the types the record marks as freighters, and every record is dated at its last check.

Passenger airlines with freighters (6)

Passenger airlines whose records name freighters that they fly, or that the group airline in brackets flies. The First Officer seat is the airline’s, on any of its fleets, so it is a freighter seat only where a route below says so.

Routes onto the freighters, in the airlines’ words (6)

Every entry route our records give for the cargo airlines, and the routes of the passenger airlines that name a freighter or the freight operation, worded as recorded at the date shown, open or closed. A passenger airline missing here may still put new pilots on its freighters; it just does not name them in its routes.

• Atlas Air F/O: Unconfirmed
  Direct entry First Officer (checked 18 October 2026) — careers page
• Cargolux F/O: Unconfirmed
  Direct entry First Officer B747 — experienced pilots only (checked 18 October 2026) — careers page
• FedEx Express F/O: Unconfirmed
  Direct entry First Officer — a pilot profile in FedEx’s applicant pool; selected pilots are invited to apply · Purple Runway — FedEx’s partner-carrier pathway at Mountain Air Cargo, IFL Group, Empire Airlines or Corporate Air: an upfront FedEx interview, then 36 months and 500 h multi-engine turboprop PIC with the partner · Military pilots — through the same pilot profile, with sorties converted to hours (checked 13 October 2026) — careers page
• UPS Airlines F/O: Unconfirmed
  Direct entry First Officer — through postings on UPS’s careers site, none confirmed open on 14 October 2026; no type rating required · UPS FlightPath I — a 12-month UPS internship for recent graduates or university juniors and seniors with a Commercial certificate with multi-engine and instrument ratings, then at least 30 months as an Ameriflight pilot before a UPS First Officer interview · UPS FlightPath II — for Ameriflight pilots selected by Ameriflight (UPS asks for at least 1,000 hours and a turboprop captain’s seat): a program UPS calls 36 months, with a UPS mentoring stage, leading to a UPS First Officer interview · Military pilots — through the same First Officer posting, with 0.3 h added to flight time per sortie (checked 14 October 2026) — careers page
• Cathay Pacific F/O: Recruiting
  Direct entry First Officer — ICAO ATPL or CPL/MEIR with same-state ATPL credits, 1,500 h total; placement on the A321neo, A330, A350, B777 or B747 freighter (checked 21 September 2026) — careers page · Study guide (PDF, €4.99)
• KLM F/O: Recruiting
  First Officer B747-400F with Martinair Cargo — a separate vacancy, due to close on or about 31 August 2026; the pilot was employed by KLM and placed in the Martinair freight operation, with higher hours requirements than mainline. (checked 13 October 2026) — careers page

The freighter fleets, and what is changing

A freighter fleet decides where the First Officer seats are, and which type rating the airline will train you on. At the US cargo majors, by their annual reports: FedEx counted 152 Boeing 767 freighters, 86 757s, 59 777Fs and 57 A300-600Fs on 31 May 2026; UPS 89 Boeing 767-300s and ten converted ones, 75 757s, 52 A300-600s and 43 747s on 31 December 2025. What changed, or is on order: UPS permanently grounded and then retired its MD-11 freighters in the fourth quarter of 2025, after the accident of a UPS MD-11 at Louisville on 4 November 2025, its annual report for 2025 says (checked 14 October 2026); FedEx’s 29 MD-11 freighters have been returning to service in stages since May 2026, after the grounding that followed that accident (checked 13 October 2026); KLM’s 2026 First Officer vacancy on Martinair Cargo’s four Boeing 747-400 freighters said the Airbus A350F would replace the type from the end of 2027 (checked 13 October 2026); Ethiopian Airlines ordered eight 777-8 Freighters and two 777 Freighters, Boeing announced on 30 September 2026 (checked 16 October 2026); Cargolux had the B777-8F on order at its last check, on 18 October 2026.

The 737 freighters of Ethiopian Airlines share the 737’s pilot type rating, so they are also on our Boeing 737 pilot jobs page.

Do you need a type rating?

Whether you need one to apply is the airline’s call, and it splits the list four ways:

• No type rating needed to apply (7): Alaska Airlines (incl. Hawaiian), Cathay Pacific, Ethiopian Airlines, Atlas Air, Cargolux, FedEx Express and UPS Airlines. The airline provides, arranges or sells the rating, or only prefers it; a multi-fleet airline may put you on a passenger type, and an entry may be closed: the tables above give each airline’s terms and seat status.
• Separate rated and non-rated streams (1): Etihad Airways. The streams open and close separately, and the rated one usually asks for hours on the type.
• A type rating needed to apply (1): KLM. Not always on a freighter: KLM asks for a valid rating on any multi-pilot type, then trains you on whichever of its fleets has training capacity (checked 13 October 2026).
• Not published or unclear (1): EVA Air.

Every one of the 4 cargo airlines asks for no type rating to apply, and Atlas Air and Cargolux say they provide it. The non-type-rated First Officer jobs page sets out who pays for the rating, and what the bond is, at every airline that trains you on type.

How to read a cargo vacancy

• The hours are the floor; command time is the filter. FedEx asks for at least 500 hours as pilot in command, counted as captain or aircraft commander of record, in jets, multi-engine turboprops of 12,500 lb or more or certain single-engine turboprops, and prefers 1,000 (checked 13 October 2026); UPS asks for 1,000 hours as pilot in command of fixed-wing jets or multi-engine turboprops in most copies of its posting, and lists them as preferred in one (checked 14 October 2026); Atlas Air prefers 2,500 hours in Part 121, 135, 91 or military flying (checked 18 October 2026); Cargolux counts its 1,500 hours only as multi-pilot, multi-engine time on jets or on CS-25 turboprops of more than 10 tonnes or 19 seats (checked 18 October 2026); KLM’s 2026 vacancy for Martinair’s 747 freighters asked for 1,000 hours on multi-engine airplanes over 5,700 kg and 100 in command, and did not count time as a cruise relief co-pilot (checked 13 October 2026). FedEx counts no simulator, helicopter, flight engineer or navigator time (checked 13 October 2026). Preparation providers reported in 2026 that recent hires at FedEx and UPS had about 4,000 hours, which neither airline publishes, so we could not confirm it. Every airline’s minimum is on the hours requirements page.
• The low-hour door is a feeder airline. FedEx’s Purple Runway takes pilots of its feeder partners, Mountain Air Cargo, IFL Group, Empire Airlines and Corporate Air, with the FedEx interview first, then 36 months and 500 hours in command of multi-engine turboprops with the partner (checked 13 October 2026); UPS’s FlightPath I leads, after a 12-month UPS internship and at least 30 months as an Ameriflight pilot, to a UPS First Officer interview, and FlightPath II takes Ameriflight pilots that Ameriflight selects into a program UPS calls 36 months (checked 14 October 2026). Read the terms on the requirements pages: FedEx Express, UPS Airlines.
• A degree helps at the US cargo majors. FedEx’s own pilot pages list a bachelor’s degree as preferred (checked 13 October 2026); UPS’s postings list one as preferred, not required, beside transport-category flying in the 12 months before you apply (checked 14 October 2026).
• International flying needs the papers. FedEx lists a valid US passport and eligibility for a SIDA airport-security badge among its mandatory requirements (checked 13 October 2026); UPS asks for a valid passport (checked 14 October 2026); Atlas Air for a passport valid for 24 months, with no travel restrictions, and the ability to obtain visas for its destinations (checked 18 October 2026); KLM’s Martinair vacancy for no criminal record and no restrictions on international travel (checked 13 October 2026); Cargolux for unrestricted rights to travel internationally and a security background check (checked 18 October 2026). Check that your passport, and your record, allow it before you apply.
• License and passport first. The 4 US airlines here want an FAA ATP, or the experience and written exam for one, and all of them the right to work in the US; Cargolux asks for an EASA license, which you agree to transfer to a Luxembourg-issued one, and the right to live and work in the EU (checked 18 October 2026); KLM for a Dutch-issued license, or one converted to Dutch issue at your cost (checked 13 October 2026). Of the 10 airlines on this page, EVA Air says it sponsors a visa or permit for at least one pilot entry; the airlines that do, on every type, are on the visa sponsorship page.
• No Captains from outside. None of the 4 cargo airlines publishes a Captain route for pilots from outside: they make their Captains from their own First Officers. Of the 10 airlines on this page, Ethiopian Airlines and Etihad Airways were taking Captains from outside at the last check; every airline that does, on any type, is on the direct entry Captain jobs page.

For the interview, the FAA ATP written test guide covers the US written, the Library covers dangerous goods, cargo loading and floor limits and, for long-range flying, ETOPS, and the complete interview guide covers the HR and competency stages.

Common questions

Which airlines are hiring cargo pilots? At the last check the First Officer status of all 4 cargo airlines was unconfirmed; 5 of the 6 passenger airlines with freighters had the First Officer seat open, recruiting or holding a pool, and 1 was unconfirmed. The tables on this page give each airline’s status with the date it was checked. A passenger airline’s First Officer seat is a seat on any of its fleets, not always a freighter seat. Check each airline’s current status on the jobs board before applying.

How many hours do you need to fly cargo? All 4 cargo airlines on our board publish 1,500 hours as their lowest First Officer entry, and they add command or multi-pilot time: FedEx asks for at least 500 hours as pilot in command, counted as captain or aircraft commander of record, in jets, multi-engine turboprops of 12,500 lb or more or certain single-engine turboprops, and prefers 1,000; UPS asks for 1,000 hours as pilot in command of fixed-wing jets or multi-engine turboprops in most copies of its posting, and lists them as preferred in one; Atlas Air prefers 2,500 hours in Part 121, 135, 91 or military flying; Cargolux counts its 1,500 hours only as multi-pilot, multi-engine time on jets or on CS-25 turboprops of more than 10 tonnes or 19 seats. Every airline’s figure is in the tables on this page, with the date it was checked.

Can you get a cargo pilot job with low hours? Not directly at the 4 cargo airlines on our board, whose lowest entry is 1,500 hours. The lowest published entries for pilots without a type rating among the 10 airlines here, each in the airline’s own measure of hours and not always on a freighter: Cathay Pacific (250 h); Alaska Airlines (1,500 h); Ethiopian Airlines (1,500 h); Atlas Air (1,500 h); Cargolux (1,500 h); FedEx Express (1,500 h). The route in from low hours is a feeder airline: FedEx’s Purple Runway takes pilots of its feeder partners, Mountain Air Cargo, IFL Group, Empire Airlines and Corporate Air, with the FedEx interview first, then 36 months and 500 hours in command of multi-engine turboprops with the partner; UPS’s FlightPath I leads, after a 12-month UPS internship and at least 30 months as an Ameriflight pilot, to a UPS First Officer interview, and FlightPath II takes Ameriflight pilots that Ameriflight selects into a program UPS calls 36 months.

Do cargo airlines provide the type rating? 7 of the 10 airlines on this page publish a First Officer entry that needs no type rating to apply, 1 runs separate rated and non-rated streams, 1 wants a rating held when you apply and for 1 it is not published or unclear. Among the cargo airlines, Atlas Air and Cargolux say they provide it. Where the airline provides the rating, ask who pays for it and whether it is bonded.

Do cargo airlines hire direct entry Captains? None of the 4 cargo airlines on our board publishes a Captain route for pilots from outside: they make their Captains from their own First Officers. Of the 10 airlines on this page, Ethiopian Airlines and Etihad Airways were taking Captains from outside at the last check, not necessarily on a freighter. The direct entry Captain jobs page lists every airline that takes them.

Can I fly cargo with an EASA license? Yes, in Europe: Cargolux asks for an EASA license, which you agree to transfer to a Luxembourg-issued one, and the right to live and work in the EU; KLM for a Dutch-issued license, or one converted to Dutch issue at your cost. The 4 US airlines on this page want an FAA ATP, or the experience and written exam for one, and the right to work in the US, so an EASA license holder converts first and needs that right to work. FAA vs EASA explains the conversion in both directions.