flyadeal Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, License and Hiring Process

flyadeal, the Saudi low-cost airline, posts its pilot vacancies on its own careers portal. At the last check, on 27 October 2026, the portal still served pages for A320 First Officer, A320 Captain and Cadet Pilot postings; the pages load by script, so a download showed only their titles and we could not see when they opened or close. The Captain posting, as search results showed it on 26 October 2026, asks for 4,000 hours on the A320 or turbojets above 30 tons, 2,000 of them in command, a valid ICAO ATPL and a current A320 type rating. The First Officer postings, as search results showed them on 29 September 2026, asked for 1,500 hours on the A320 or A330 family with the rating held, at an age of 23 to 50, and the non-rated First Officer and Captain postings were for Saudi nationals only; search results have not shown those terms since. flyadeal flies only the A320 family, 46 aircraft in April 2026 (AACO, in search results), from bases at Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam and, since January 2026, Madinah.

Is flyadeal hiring pilots now?

Recruiting at the last check on 27 October 2026 — First Officer seat: Recruiting; Captain seat: Recruiting. Rated A320 Captains: 4,000 h on the A320 or jets above 30 tons with 2,000 h in command (portal, October 2026); rated First Officers from 1,500 h on the A320/A330 and non-rated streams for Saudi nationals (September 2026)

Requirements, as published

Reading the requirements line by line

A download of flyadeal’s portal on 27 October 2026 showed only the postings’ titles, so the requirements below are the postings as search results showed them, the Captain posting on 26 October 2026 and the First Officer postings on 29 September 2026, the last day search results showed their terms, with Weekday’s job-board copy of the Captain posting, which carries no date, read on 27 October 2026.

• Captain: 4,000 hours, counted by weight. The posting asks for at least 4,000 total flying hours on the A320 or on turbojet aircraft above 30 tons, with at least 2,000 as pilot in command on the A320 or a similar category. Weekday’s copy counts validated hours, on turbojets over 30 tons with FMC, EFIS or glass-cockpit equipment for both figures, and adds at least 150 hours flown in the last eight months. Time on lighter aircraft counts toward neither figure, so total your logbook by aircraft before you apply.
• First Officer: 1,500 hours on the Airbus, or on glass-cockpit jets. The rated posting asked for 1,500 hours on the A320 or A330 family and a current A320 rating; another First Officer posting accepted 1,500 hours on turbojets with FMC and EFIS in place of the A320 rating. Since then search results have shown the A320 First Officer posting’s description but not its requirements, and on 27 October 2026 its page still carried the title “A320 First Officer”, so check which terms apply. The figure matches ICAO’s floor for an airline transport pilot license, 1,500 hours as a pilot of airplanes (ICAO Annex 1, 2.6.3.1.1), but flyadeal counts only time on the aircraft it names.
• A current ATPL, and GACA. The First Officer postings asked for a current ICAO ATPL, naming GACA, FAA and EASA licenses, with a current instrument rating and proficiency check (LPC); the Captain posting asks for a valid ICAO ATPL and prefers a GACA license, or one that can be converted, and Weekday’s copy for a current GACA or ICAO ATPL. With a foreign license, GACA, the Saudi authority, can issue a temporary flight authorization for pilot duties on Saudi-registered aircraft, valid for 30 days, with a 30-day extension that you may apply for, against a pass in its KSA AIP knowledge test, a verification letter for the license and a Saudi security clearance, among other papers (GACAR § 61.57, set out in full on our Saudia page); for a GACA license of your own, GACA lists a service, as search results showed it on 27 October 2026, to validate a foreign license, applied for on its Form 8710.
• The record. The Captain posting asks for no history of accidents or serious incidents and a clear criminal record, and the First Officer postings asked for verifiable, certified logbook hours.
• English, medical, age. ICAO English Level 4 at minimum and a Class 1 medical, issued by GACA or another ICAO state in Weekday’s copy of the Captain posting and by an ICAO state on the First Officer postings. The First Officer postings gave an age of 23 to 50; the Captain posting, as search results showed it, gives none.
• Saudi nationals. On 29 September 2026 search results also showed type-rated and non-type-rated First Officer and Captain postings on the portal for Saudi nationals only. We did not see them again on 26 or 27 October 2026, so ask flyadeal whether they are open.

Entry routes

• A320 Type Rated First Officer — Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam (flyadeal’s portal, in search results of 29 September 2026); an “A320 First Officer” posting still on the portal on 27 October 2026, its terms not seen since
• A320 Type Rated Captain — Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam: 4,000 h with 2,000 h in command (flyadeal’s portal, in search results of 26 October 2026; still on the portal on 27 October 2026)
• A320 Type Rated / Non-Type Rated First Officer and Captain — Saudi nationals only (flyadeal’s portal, in search results of 29 September 2026; not surfaced again on 26 or 27 October 2026)
• Cadet Pilot — posting on flyadeal’s portal (in search results of 26 October 2026; still on the portal on 27 October 2026): a training pathway to the A320; eligibility not on the portal as indexed

flyadeal beside the other Saudi and Gulf airlines

flyadeal beside the three other Saudi airlines on our jobs board and Emirates, as recorded at each airline’s last check:

Read each row with its date. Of the Saudi airlines, flyadeal’s rated First Officer posting asked for 1,500 hours on the Airbus as search results showed it in September 2026, the figure job boards relayed that month for Riyadh Air’s A321 First Officers, whose own 787 First Officer posting asks for 2,000 hours on multi-crew jets (last check, 17 October 2026); flynas fills its First Officer seats with Saudi pilots through its Future Pilots program, and Saudia’s one pilot vacancy at its last check, on 20 October 2026, was its Cadet Program for Saudi nationals. For the Captain seat, flyadeal’s posting asks for 4,000 hours with 2,000 in command, against 5,000 in the undated agency listing for flynas.

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.

The Cadet Pilot route and the Waed scholarship

flyadeal’s portal still carried a Cadet Pilot posting on 27 October 2026, which, as search results showed it on 26 October 2026, describes a training pathway to the A320. The stages it lists include verification of your documents, a knowledge test, logbook screening, aptitude and psychometric assessments, an interview and a pre-employment medical; Flightdeckfriend’s copy adds a simulator assessment. The eligibility was not in what search results showed of the portal: the same copy, in search results on 27 October 2026, asks for a valid Saudi ID, an age of 30 at most and a science high-school certificate or a science or engineering degree graded at least “Very Good”, about 80% for the certificate, and a listing that PilotsGlobal marks closed asked for 240 hours, 25 of them multi-engine, and a GACA commercial license with instrument and multi-engine ratings. Read the posting itself before you apply.

flyadeal also trains cadets under Waed, a scholarship scheme the Saudi Ministry of Transport and Logistic Services launched in 2023. As AFM reported it in 2025, groups of Saudi cadets completed about three months of A320 type rating training, ground school and simulator, at Global Training Aviation in Madrid: 10 in the first group in May 2025, 10 more in August 2025 and 18 First Officers in December 2025, 38 of the 150 that flyadeal’s chief executive said the scheme would train by mid-2027. In February 2026 flyadeal’s chief operating officer said the airline continued to hire pilots, including those joining through the government-backed graduate cadet program it began taking part in in 2025 (TradeArabia, 17 February 2026), and in July 2026 Global Training Aviation reported the graduation of a fifth flyadeal batch in Madrid. Whether the Cadet Pilot posting and the Waed scheme are one route or two, flyadeal does not say in what we could read.

Bases and fleet

Bases: Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam (Gulf News, 17 November 2025), the bases its pilot postings named in September 2026 · Madinah, its newest operational base from January 2026, with two A320s stationed there (flyadeal’s announcement, Gulf News, 17 November 2025)

Fleet: 46 Airbus A320-family aircraft after an A320neo delivery on 2 April 2026 (AACO, as search results showed it on 27 October 2026); 45 after its first delivery of 2026, its 34th A320neo, on 9 February 2026, with its chief executive aiming for 50 (AACO, 11 February 2026; TradeArabia, 17 February 2026) · On order: 51 Airbus aircraft, 12 A320neos and 39 A321neos (order of 20 May 2024, in search results)

How to prepare

flyadeal flies only the A320 family, so the A320 bank below is your type preparation, and its rated postings make the type the center of everything else: the A320 interview set for the technical questions, our top 25 A320 type rating questions for the systems a check ride draws on, and the CRM interview set for the crew and command questions. flyadeal does not publish the selection for its rated postings in what we could read. The only description we found, of a 2020 roadshow in Belgrade reported by EX-YU Aviation News, ran from a company presentation to personal interviews and then a simulator session at a training center in Sofia; more recently AviationCV listed flyadeal’s online pilot roadshow of 9 January 2025 and its pilot assessments in Brazil from 10 to 16 June 2025, both for A320 Captains, as search results showed them on 27 October 2026. For the Cadet Pilot route, the stages listed on flyadeal’s portal, as search results showed them on 26 October 2026, include a knowledge test, aptitude and psychometric assessments and an interview, so revise with v1prep’s ATPL theory banks and practice timed reasoning tasks. Do the paperwork first: a job board’s copy of the Captain posting counts validated hours and asks for 150 hours flown in the last eight months, the First Officer postings asked in September 2026 for verifiable, certified logbook hours, and the Cadet Pilot route screens the logbook, so total your time on the A320 or A330, or on jets above 30 tons with FMC and EFIS, and your time in command, each on a line of its own; keep your instrument rating, proficiency check and Class 1 medical current; and, with a foreign license, know what GACA asks of it, set out above.

flyadeal has no interview guide on v1prep yet, so for the selection read the complete airline pilot interview guide and the Library’s technical questions in airline pilot interviews, pilot aptitude tests and airline simulator assessment; our top 50 A320 interview questions go through the type. The Library’s class and type ratings explains when a type rating is required and how it is revalidated and renewed, the condition of both rated postings. The other Saudi airlines are on flynas pilot requirements, Saudia pilot requirements and Riyadh Air pilot requirements; the airlines that take First Officers at 1,500 hours are on pilot jobs with 1,500 hours, and the other A320 operators on A320 pilot jobs. Check flyadeal’s entry on the jobs board for the latest status.

What we could not confirm

• Researched on 26 and 27 October 2026 from search-engine results of the airline’s own careers pages, job postings and industry job boards, and from a download of the portal that showed only the postings’ titles, its pages loading by script — not from a direct read of the postings. Confirm the vacancy is still open before you apply.
• Whether the First Officer terms of 29 September 2026 still stand: on 26 and 27 October 2026 search results showed at most the A320 First Officer posting’s description, not its requirements, and no longer the posting that accepted FMC/EFIS turbojet time in place of the A320 rating; the posting’s page, downloaded on 27 October 2026, showed only its title
• Whether the type-rated and non-type-rated postings for Saudi nationals are still on the portal: seen in search results on 29 September 2026, not on 26 or 27 October 2026
• The Captain age limit: the portal’s posting, as indexed, gives none; job boards’ copies, among them AviationCV’s listing of flyadeal’s Brazil pilot assessments of June 2025, give 58 at the date of joining
• Contract, salary, roster and visa terms: job boards’ undated copies of the Captain posting give a monthly salary and a 20-on/10-off roster that we did not see on flyadeal’s portal, and no source we could read states visa terms
• The Cadet Pilot posting’s eligibility and nationality rule: a job board’s copy asks for a valid Saudi ID, an age of 30 at most and school or degree grades, and a closed listing 240 h with 25 multi-engine and a GACA CPL with instrument and multi-engine ratings; we did not see them on the portal
• When the postings opened and when they close: the portal shows no dates in search results
• How the suspension of operations at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport after the attacks of October 2026, recorded on our Riyadh Air entry, and the reopening that headlines on TradeArabia’s and Gulf News’ sites reported on 27 October 2026 (partial, in TradeArabia’s) affect flyadeal’s Riyadh base, its flying and its pilot recruitment: we did not check this on flyadeal’s own pages

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 flyadeal hiring pilots? Yes, on the evidence we could gather: at the last check, on 27 October 2026, flyadeal’s careers portal still served pages for A320 First Officer, A320 Captain and Cadet Pilot postings, and in February 2026 its chief operating officer said it continued to hire pilots (TradeArabia, 17 February 2026). The portal’s pages load by script, so we could read only their titles and could not see when the postings opened or when they close; confirm on flyadeal’s careers portal before you apply.

How many hours do you need to fly for flyadeal? For Captains, 4,000 hours on the A320 or turbojets above 30 tons, 2,000 of them in command on the A320 or a similar category, in the portal’s posting as search results showed it on 26 October 2026; a job board’s undated copy adds that the turbojets need FMC, EFIS or glass-cockpit equipment and asks for 150 hours flown in the last eight months. For First Officers, 1,500 hours on the A320 or A330 family on the rated posting, or 1,500 hours on turbojets with FMC and EFIS in place of the A320 rating on another posting, as search results showed them on 29 September 2026; we have not seen those terms since.

Do you need a type rating to fly for flyadeal? On the Captain posting and the rated First Officer posting, yes: a current A320 type rating. On 29 September 2026 search results also showed a First Officer posting that accepted 1,500 hours on turbojets with FMC and EFIS in place of the A320 rating, and non-type-rated First Officer and Captain postings for Saudi nationals only; we did not see those again on 26 or 27 October 2026. Who pays for a rating flyadeal trains, and any bond, is not in what we could read.

Can foreign pilots fly for flyadeal? The rated postings set no nationality in what search results showed: they ask for a current ICAO ATPL, with GACA, FAA and EASA licenses named, and the Captain posting prefers a GACA license or one that can be converted; AviationCV also listed flyadeal’s pilot assessments in Brazil for A320 Captains in June 2025. The non-rated postings seen in September 2026 were for Saudi nationals only. The First Officer postings gave the work permit as Saudi Arabia but did not state visa terms, and no source we could read does, so ask flyadeal before you apply.

Does flyadeal have a cadet program? Yes. Its portal still carried a Cadet Pilot posting on 27 October 2026, for a training pathway to the A320, with stages, as search results showed them, from a document check and a knowledge test to logbook screening, aptitude and psychometric assessments, an interview and a medical. The eligibility was not on the portal as indexed; a job board’s copy asks for a valid Saudi ID and an age of 30 at most. flyadeal also trains Saudi cadets on the A320 under the Waed scholarship, 38 of them by December 2025, as AFM reported it.