ITA Airways Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, Licence and Hiring Process
ITA Airways had no pilot application of any kind open when its careers portal was read on 25 August 2026, and a search on 12 October 2026 found none newer, so there is nothing to apply to today. It has opened two doors in the past year. The Multi Pilot Licence cadet programme, announced in ITA’s own press release of 16 July 2026, takes candidates with no or limited flying experience: at least 17 years old, an Italian upper-secondary diploma or equivalent, excellent spoken and written Italian and excellent English, and a DLR aptitude certificate, for a 21-month course and about 280 pilots over four years. Its application page has since gone offline, with no reopening date. A type-rated First Officer campaign, published on ITA’s site on 19 December 2025 as the Italian press reported, asked for 500 hours on the A320 or A220, simulator time excluded, or 500 hours on an EASA-rated commercial aeroplane over 30 tonnes, for Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate; it has closed. No direct-entry Captain route is published.
Always confirm on the airline’s own careers page before applying. Every figure here is what the airline published at the date shown against it on our jobs board; entries marked Unconfirmed are ones whose requirements we found but whose current vacancy status we could not establish from the airline’s own pages. Vacancies open and close without notice.
Is ITA Airways hiring pilots now?
Unconfirmed at the last check on 12 October 2026 — First Officer seat: Unconfirmed; Captain seat: Not offered. No pilot route is open today: the MPL cadet intake is closed, with no reopening date
What we found at the last check: ITA Airways had no pilot application open on 25 August 2026: its MPL cadet course page was unavailable and no further intake date is published. ITA also hires type-rated A320 and A220 First Officers in campaigns; the last one, published in December 2025, has closed. A search on 12 October 2026 found no open ITA pilot application.
How we checked
Unconfirmed since 25 August 2026, because no pilot application route could be verified as open. What is solidly established, from ITA Airways' own press release dated Rome, 16 July 2026 (text re-read and verified verbatim on 25 Aug 2026): ITA has begun planning its first Multi Pilot Licence (MPL) ab-initio courses, ~280 pilots over four years, 21-month courses, selection starting in July 2026 and first courses starting October 2026. That press release links to exactly one application page, career.ita-airways.com/job/CORSO-MPL/912-it_IT/ (the link in the PDF itself). As re-checked on 25 August 2026 that page returns 'Impossibile visualizzare questo lavoro perche non e disponibile al momento' ('this job cannot be displayed because it is not available at this time'), and a keyword search of ITA's own career portal for pilot / pilota / comandante / MPL / cadet / first officer returns no pilot vacancies. ITA publishes no direct-entry First Officer or Captain route at all. So the position is: a real, funded cadet programme exists, but there is no open pilot application to send anyone to today, and ITA publishes no date for a further intake. Whether the MPL window is closed between intakes, permanently closed, or merely offline in error is not published anywhere - which is why the status is 'Unconfirmed' rather than 'Cadet only'; ITA Airways was not recruiting pilots that day. Update, 5 October 2026: Italian press (QuiFinanza, qds.it) reported that ITA published two pilot vacancies on its own site on 19 December 2025, with permanent contracts, asking for an EASA type rating on the A320 or A220 with at least 500 h (simulator excluded) or 500 h on an EASA-rated CAT aeroplane over 30 t, and job boards relayed A220 and A320-family First Officer listings for Rome and Milan that have since closed. ITA therefore does recruit type-rated First Officers in campaigns; none was open on 25 August 2026. Re-checked in search results on 12 October 2026: no open ITA pilot application was found; the press coverage is of the MPL plan (about 280 pilots over four years, first courses from October 2026) and of the closed December 2025 First Officer call. Not re-read on the portal.
ITA and the other southern European airlines
With no ITA route open, these are the other southern European airlines on our jobs board, as recorded at each airline’s last check:
| Airline | Published minimum | Right to work and language | Status at last check |
|---|---|---|---|
| ITA Airways | None · no prior flying experience needed | Not published · Italian required | Unconfirmed (12 October 2026) |
| Aegean Airlines | 70 h PIC | EU unrestricted | Unconfirmed (12 October 2026) |
| Iberia | 500 h on CS-25 · currently line-flying | EU · no visa sponsorship | Not recruiting (12 October 2026) |
| Vueling | No total-time minimum · '200 factorized h' | Not published · Spanish EASA | Not recruiting (12 October 2026) |
| Air Europa | 500 h on B737 | EU · Spanish level 6 | Unconfirmed (29 September 2026) |
| Binter | No minimum · MPL: 70 h PIC | Not published · Spanish level 5 | Recruiting (29 September 2026) |
| TAP Air Portugal | Not published | Not published · ANAC licence | Not recruiting (12 October 2026) |
Requirements, as published
| Requirement | As published by the airline |
|---|---|
| Licence | MPL cadet route: NO licence required on entry. ITA's press release states the programme is aimed at candidates 'senza esperienza di volo pregressa o con esperienza limitata' (with no previous flying experience, or limited experience). The MPL itself is described by ITA as an advanced, internationally recognised licence that trains pilots to operate as co-pilots (first officers) on multi-crew commercial aircraft. For experienced/direct-entry pilots, ITA Airways publishes NO licence requirement because it currently advertises no direct-entry pilot vacancy. |
| Minimum hours | Not published. For the MPL cadet route no minimum hours apply - the programme explicitly accepts candidates with zero flying experience. For any direct-entry route: Not published. |
| Hours on type | Not published |
| Type rating | Provided as part of the MPL training. ITA states the 21-month course integrates theoretical training, live flying, latest-generation simulators and company-specific operating-procedure training, producing pilots qualified to fly as co-pilots on multi-crew commercial aircraft. WHO PAYS IS NOT STATED IN ITA'S PRESS RELEASE. Italian media (Il Sole 24 Ore, Leggo, TGCom24) report a course cost of approximately EUR 135,000 to the cadet - this figure is not confirmed anywhere on ITA's own site. |
| Right to work | Not published. ITA Airways does not publish a nationality, residency or visa requirement for the MPL programme. The Italian-language requirement is the only published de facto constraint. |
| Medical | Not published in ITA's MPL announcement. ITA requires a 'certificazione DLR' - this is a psychometric / aptitude assessment certificate (the German DLR pilot aptitude standard), NOT a medical certificate. An EASA Class 1 medical is a general regulatory prerequisite for commercial pilot training under EASA rules, but ITA Airways does not state it in the published announcement, so it is not reported here as an ITA-published requirement. |
| English | ITA's press release states the requirement as a single clause: 'un'ottima conoscenza della lingua italiana, parlata e scritta, e della lingua inglese' - an excellent command of the Italian language, spoken and written, and of the English language. So excellent Italian AND excellent English are both required. No ICAO English level number (e.g. Level 4/5/6) is published, and no separate English test is named. NOTE FOR NON-ITALIAN SPEAKERS: the published Italian-language requirement is a hard eligibility filter on this route. |
| Age | Minimum age 17 at selection ('avere almeno 17 anni'). NO maximum age is published by ITA Airways. |
| Also | All figures above come from ITA Airways' OWN press release PDF dated Rome, 16 July 2026 ('ITA Airways avvia l'organizzazione di corsi di volo Multi Pilot Licence'). Note that the detailed MPL vacancy page that press release pointed to is now offline, so the full published selection criteria can no longer be read on ITA's site and may have contained further conditions. ITA Airways publishes NO hours figures, NO type-rating hours, NO medical class and NO age maximum for any experienced-pilot route, because it does not currently advertise one (the December 2025 First Officer campaign, now closed, asked for 500 h on the A320 or A220; see the entry routes). No direct-entry First Officer or Captain requirements are published for ITA Airways. ITA also states that the ONLY official channels for job applications are the 'Work with Us' page on ita-airways.com and the Job Offers section of the ITA Airways LinkedIn page; anything else (agencies, job boards asking for fees) is not an official channel. Third-party pilot-jobs aggregators do publish ITA 'requirements' (ATPL, hours minimums, assessment formats) - none of it is ITA-sourced; see the points we could not confirm. Finally, note that as of 25 August 2026 there is no open ITA pilot application of any kind, so there was nothing to apply to; watch ITA's two official channels for a further MPL intake. |
Entry routes
- Cadet / ab-initio (Multi Pilot Licence, MPL): announced 16 July 2026; application window appears CLOSED as of 25 Aug 2026
- Type-rated First Officer, A220 or A320 family: a campaign published on ITA’s own site on 19 December 2025 (reported by QuiFinanza and qds.it), asking for 500 h on type (simulator excluded) or 500 h on an EASA-rated aeroplane over 30 t; bases Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate; closed by 25 August 2026
- Direct entry Captain - NOT published
The two routes ITA has opened, side by side
Neither route was open at the last check. These are the terms ITA last published or, for the First Officer campaign, that the Italian press reported from ITA’s site: the best guide to what the next intake will ask.
| Detail | MPL cadet programme | Type-rated First Officer |
|---|---|---|
| Source | ITA press release, 16 July 2026 | Vacancies on ITA’s site from 19 December 2025, reported by QuiFinanza and qds.it |
| Who it is for | Candidates with no previous flying experience, or limited experience | Pilots holding an EASA type rating on the A320 or A220 |
| Hours | None | At least 500 h on the type, simulator excluded, or 500 h on an EASA-rated commercial aeroplane over 30 t |
| Other conditions | At least 17 at selection, no maximum published; an Italian upper-secondary diploma or equivalent; excellent spoken and written Italian and excellent English, with no ICAO level given; a DLR aptitude certificate | Permanent contracts |
| Selection | Run in-house by ITA’s specialised teams; stages and pass marks not published | Not published |
| Bases | Not stated | Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate |
| What follows | A 21-month course of theory, live flying, latest-generation simulators and ITA operating procedures, qualifying cadets as co-pilots on multi-crew aircraft; first courses from October 2026 | Not published |
| Status | Application page offline on 25 August 2026; no reopening date | Closed by 25 August 2026 |
ITA says it is currently the only company certified in Italy to run MPL courses. Two things it has not published matter most to a cadet: who pays for the course, and whether a First Officer job follows it. Get both answers in writing before you commit.
Selection process
- Application via ITA Airways' own career portal (career.ita-airways.com) - the MPL posting was published there and linked from the 16 July 2026 press release; that posting is currently closed
- DLR aptitude certification ('certificazione DLR') - psychometric/aptitude assessment, required to take part in the selection
- Verification of published eligibility: minimum age 17, secondary school diploma or equivalent, excellent spoken and written Italian and English
- Selection and recruitment run in-house by ITA Airways specialised teams (per ITA press release) - the individual stages, their order and the pass criteria are NOT published
- On success: 21-month MPL training course - theoretical training, live flying, latest-generation simulators and ITA company operating-procedure training, with first courses starting October 2026
Bases and fleet
Bases: Rome Fiumicino (FCO) - main hub · Milan Linate (LIN)
Fleet: A220-100 · A220-300 · A320neo · A321neo · A330-900neo · A350-900
How to prepare
For a cadet the first hurdle is the DLR certificate, an aptitude assessment you must hold to take part in the selection. ITA does not publish what it contains, so prepare broadly, with timed mental arithmetic, physics, spatial orientation, memory and multitasking practice, and use the ATPL theory banks for the maths and physics behind it. Excellent Italian is a published condition, so expect to be assessed in it. For a type-rated pilot, the December 2025 campaign ran separate A220 and A320-family listings: work the A320 bank or the A220 bank for the type you hold, and keep your hours laid out by type, because the campaign counted hours on the type, simulator excluded, or on aeroplanes over 30 tonnes, not total time.
Our ITA Airways pilot interview guide covers both routes, the technical questions for an airline with two narrow-body families and the HR questions to expect. For the A220, the Library explains its fly-by-wire flight controls and its PW1500G geared turbofans. DLR also runs the aptitude test for Lufthansa’s European Flight Academy, described on our Lufthansa Group requirements page. Check ITA Airways’ entry on the jobs board for the latest status.
What we could not confirm
- The reported MPL course cost of approximately EUR 135,000 (VAT exempt) - widely reported by Italian media (Il Sole 24 Ore, Leggo, TGCom24, falcovbs.com) but NOT stated anywhere in ITA Airways' own press release or on ita-airways.com. Treat as unconfirmed.
- Whether the cadet self-funds the course at all, or whether ITA bonds/subsidises any part of it - ITA publishes nothing on this.
- Whether employment as an ITA Airways First Officer is guaranteed on completion. Italian media (IlFaroOnline) report 'assunzione al termine del percorso' (hiring at the end of the course); ITA's own press release does NOT state a guaranteed job offer - it speaks only of building a pool of trained talent and planning turnover.
- The partnership with Urbe Aero Flight Academy for the first flying phases: reported by Halldale and Avionews (theory at the ITA Airways Training Center at Rome-Fiumicino, the Core and Basic phases at Urbe Aero with at least 161 h of actual and simulated flight plus 3 h of UPRT per cadet, then A220 and A320 full-flight simulators at Fiumicino), but not named in ITA’s own press release.
- The detailed MPL selection stages (number of rounds, test content, interview format, sim assessment, pass marks) - the ITA vacancy page that would have carried these is now offline.
- The exact closing date of the MPL application window, and whether/when a further MPL selection round will open. ITA states ~280 pilots over four years, which implies further intakes, but no future dates are published.
- Reported plans to hire ~100 pilots and ~400 cabin crew in 2026 (466-500 total hires) - reported by Il Messaggero, Ticonsiglio, LavoroFacile and others, but NOT confirmed by any press release on ITA Airways' own site.
- Whether an EASA Class 1 medical certificate is formally required at MPL application stage - not stated by ITA (a DLR aptitude certificate is what ITA names). Class 1 is a general EASA prerequisite for commercial training but is not an ITA-published requirement.
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 ITA Airways hiring pilots? Not at the last check, on 12 October 2026, when a search found no open ITA pilot application. When its careers portal was read on 25 August 2026, no pilot application of any kind was open: the MPL cadet posting linked from ITA’s 16 July 2026 press release said the job was not available, a search of ITA’s career portal found no pilot vacancies, and the type-rated First Officer listings of December 2025 had closed. ITA has published no date for a further intake.
What are the requirements for the ITA Airways MPL cadet programme? ITA’s 16 July 2026 press release asks for a minimum age of 17 at selection, an Italian upper-secondary diploma or equivalent, excellent spoken and written Italian and excellent English, and a DLR aptitude certificate. No flying experience is needed. The course lasts 21 months, and ITA plans about 280 pilots over four years. No maximum age, ICAO English level or medical class is published.
Do I need to speak Italian to fly for ITA Airways? For the MPL cadet programme, yes: excellent spoken and written Italian is a published condition, alongside excellent English. ITA publishes no nationality, residency or visa requirement, so the language is the one published condition that limits who can apply.
How many hours do you need to fly for ITA Airways? None for the MPL cadet programme, which takes candidates with no flying experience. The type-rated First Officer campaign of December 2025, now closed, asked for an EASA type rating on the A320 or A220 with at least 500 hours, simulator time excluded, or at least 500 hours on an EASA-rated commercial aeroplane over 30 tonnes. ITA publishes no standing hours figure for experienced pilots.
How do I apply to ITA Airways? Only through ITA’s own channels: the Work with Us page on ita-airways.com and the Job Offers section of ITA’s LinkedIn page, the only official routes it names. Agencies and job boards asking for fees are not official channels, and the hours, licence and assessment “requirements” that aggregator sites publish for ITA do not come from ITA.
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