Jet2 Pilot Interview Prep: Stages, Sim, Questions (2026 Guide)

LAST UPDATED: 12 OCTOBER 2026

Jet2 recruits at every rank, from Second Officer to Captain, and at the last check, on 21 September 2026, it was recruiting through all of them: its own careers site carried a vacancy for permanent non-type-rated pilots, and UK job boards were relaying rated First Officer and Captain recruitment on the A321 and the 737. We saw both in search results rather than on the portal itself. Jet2 also publishes its selection in five stages: an online application, online assessments, an interview and group exercise, a simulator assessment and a medical. This guide sets out what each rank asks for and how to prepare for each stage.

Note for non-rated pilots: rated and non-rated streams run on both the 737-800 and the A321neo, so a missing type rating does not rule you out. The material we found did not say who pays for the rating or whether it is bonded, so ask before you commit.

At the last check, on 21 September 2026, Jet2 was recruiting at every rank: a vacancy for permanent non-type-rated pilots on its own careers site, and rated First Officer and Captain recruitment on the A321 and the 737 relayed by UK job boards. We could not confirm which bases each rank is open at. Check the airline pilot jobs board for the current position.

About Jet2

Jet2.com flies two types, the Boeing 737-800 and the Airbus A321neo; its 757s are listed as retired. Its pilot bases, as listed at the last check, are Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Stansted, Birmingham, East Midlands, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Bristol, Liverpool and London Luton. We could not confirm which bases each rank is open at, so check the vacancy before you name a base in your application or your interview.

Two manufacturers mean two ways in for a rated pilot: a pilot rated on the 737, or on the A320 family, whose single type rating covers the A321neo, can apply as a rated candidate, and non-rated pilots are taken onto both types. Know which stream your vacancy is for, because the type is where your technical preparation starts. For pilots with no airline time yet, Jet2FlightPath is Jet2’s cadet programme; the material we found gave no cost or terms for it, so ask before you commit.

Which rank your hours fit

Jet2 sets a minimum for each rank rather than one standard for all:

Three words in the table decide most applications. Multi-crew: the Second Officer’s 100 hours and the First Officer’s 500 must be on multi-crew aircraft, so instructing hours on light aircraft count towards neither. Jets: a Captain’s 1,000 hours in command must be on medium or heavy multi-crew jets, so turboprop command does not count towards it as written. Factorised: the Senior First Officer figure is weighted by Jet2’s own formula, and the factors were not in the material we found, so ask Jet2 how your hours count before ruling yourself in or out.

Every rank also needs a valid UK-issued licence (a frozen or unfrozen ATPL, or an MPL for a Second Officer), ELP Level 5, a UK CAA Class 1 with at least six months of validity left on your start date, and the right to live and work in the UK.

What sets Jet2 apart for a pilot

• A door at every rank. Second Officer, First Officer, Senior First Officer and Captain each have a published minimum, from 100 hours to 3,000.
• Two types, rated or not. Rated and non-rated streams run on both the 737 and the A321neo.
• A UK licence, not an EASA one. Every rank asks for a valid UK-issued licence, so an EASA licence alone does not meet the requirement as written.
• English at Level 5. A Level 4 endorsement, the ICAO minimum for a licence, does not meet it.
• A medical that must last. The Class 1 must still have six months to run on your start date, not just on the day you apply.
• A published selection. Five named stages, in order, so you can prepare for each one rather than guess.

The five published stages

Jet2 names five stages. The material we found does not describe what each one contains, so the second column below is preparation advice, not a description of Jet2’s format.

Two things follow from the order. The application and the online assessments come before you meet anyone, so the figures you enter and the tests you sit can decide whether you reach the interview. And the interview and the group exercise are one stage, so prepare for the group exercise as seriously as for the interview.

The online assessments

The material we found does not say what Jet2’s online assessments contain. Airline aptitude batteries typically combine timed numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning with spatial orientation, memory and multitasking tasks, usually with a personality questionnaire (the Library covers pilot aptitude tests). Practise the skills rather than one product: daily mental arithmetic without a calculator and reading instruments against the clock, in short sessions over a few weeks. A personality questionnaire has no right answers to learn, so answer it quickly and honestly.

The simulator assessment

Jet2’s fourth stage is a simulator assessment. The material we found does not describe its profile, its device or whether you fly it with another candidate, and with rated and non-rated streams on both the 737 and the A321neo, it may be on a type you have never flown. Prepare for the shape most airline simulator assessments share: a briefing on the numbers to fly, then upper air work, a hold, an ILS to minimums with a missed approach and sometimes an engine failure, flown as one of a two-pilot crew (the Library’s guide to the airline simulator assessment walks through each part).

What to practise

• The briefing. The pitch attitudes and thrust settings given there are the numbers to fly, so write them down, and ask about anything unclear before you start.
• Raw data. Practise level-offs, steep turns and hand-flown ILS approaches without the flight director, with the scan centred on the attitude indicator (see instrument scan technique).
• A control column or a sidestick. On the 737 the pilot trims. On the A321neo in normal law the aircraft trims itself, and in turns up to 33° of bank it needs no pitch correction once the turn is established. If the device is not your type, make small inputs and fly the numbers.
• Both roles. Where the assessment is flown as a crew, the pilot monitoring is assessed too: standard callouts, checklists and calling deviations (see crew coordination, briefings and callouts).
• The engine failure after V1. Directional control with rudder, rotation at VR and not before, positive climb and gear up, then identification and confirmation with the other pilot before anything is shut down.

In the Library’s description, for low-hour pilots the session is largely a test of trainability, of how quickly an unfamiliar aircraft’s numbers are applied, while for experienced pilots, and Captains above all, the emphasis typically moves towards managing the flight and the crew. Errors are expected; what counts is whether they are noticed, said aloud and corrected.

The interview and group exercise

Jet2’s third stage puts an interview and a group exercise together. The material we found does not describe the format of either, so prepare for the forms most airlines use.

The interview

Expect competency questions, which ask for a real past event rather than an opinion: a mistake you made, a disagreement with a Captain, a time you saw something unsafe, a decision on incomplete information. Answer with the STAR structure (situation, task, action, result), keep each story short and true, and show ownership rather than blame. Prepare eight to ten stories that cover the common themes, and raise anything in your record yourself, such as a failed check: an interviewer who finds it later will assume it was hidden. The Library sets out the method in competency-based pilot interviews.

Questions particular to Jet2

• Why Jet2, and why this rank? Three specific reasons that are true for both sides, and why the rank you applied for fits your experience now. Not led by pay, and never a criticism of your present employer.
• Which type, and why? The 737 and the A321neo come from different manufacturers with different flight deck philosophies. Know which stream you applied for and why it suits you.
• Which base? We could not confirm which bases each rank is open at, so name the one in your vacancy and have a realistic plan for reporting on time from it.
• Why should we train you? For a non-rated applicant: evidence that you learn a new type quickly, and a plan to stay and use it.
• Your English. ELP Level 5 is the minimum, so your English is on show in every answer.
• For Captain applicants. Expect the command side: decisions you have made, how you lead a crew and how you handle a disagreement on the flight deck (the Library covers flight deck leadership and the command upgrade).

The group exercise

A group exercise puts several candidates around a planning or prioritisation task against the clock, while assessors watch how each one contributes, listens and helps the group reach a decision, not who reaches the answer. Dominating the discussion and staying silent both leave them without evidence. Make sure everyone understands the task, make your point once with a reason, build on other people’s ideas, bring a quieter member in, keep an eye on the time, and support the decision once it is made.

Technical questions

A technical interview generally covers three things: the type you fly or will fly, ATPL theory asked as open questions, and operational scenarios you talk through. Start from the type in your vacancy, the 737-800 or the A321neo. A Second Officer applicant with a frozen ATPL or an MPL and no airline time should make ATPL theory the core of the preparation. If you do not know an answer, say so, then explain what you do know and where you would find the rest: panels generally score honesty first, then reasoning, then raw knowledge.

737 questions to practise

1. Systems A and B and the standby system: what does each power, and how is the aircraft flown if A and B are both lost? (see the 737 hydraulic system)
2. What do the two STAB TRIM cutout switches do, and what are the runaway stabiliser recall items? (see pitch control and stabiliser trim)
3. What is the difference between SOURCE OFF and TRANSFER BUS OFF, and what keeps running on standby power if every generator is lost? (see the 737 electrical system)

A321neo questions to practise

1. Normal, alternate and direct law: what takes you from one to the next, and which protections do you lose? (see A320 flight control laws and protections)
2. The A321neo shares one type rating with the rest of the A320 family: what changes for the crew between the ceo and the neo, and between the A320 and the A321? (see the A320ceo to neo course and its module comparing the A319, A320 and A321)

ATPL topics worth refreshing

1. V1, VR and V2, and what V1 commits you to (see takeoff speeds)
2. The go-around: thrust, attitude, flap and gear, and who may call it (see go-around and missed approach)
3. Wet and contaminated runways and what they do to performance (see wet and contaminated runways)
4. Decode a METAR and TAF (drill it with our ATPL meteorology questions)
5. Airspace classes and the rules of the air (see our ATPL air law questions)

What v1prep has for Jet2’s fleet

Where Jet2 candidates go wrong

1. Applying for a rank your hours do not fit. Multi-crew hours for a Second or First Officer, jet command for a Captain, factorised hours for a Senior First Officer: count them the way Jet2 does before you choose.
2. An EASA licence on its own. Every rank asks for a valid UK-issued licence.
3. English at Level 4. ELP Level 5 is the minimum.
4. A medical that will lapse. The Class 1 needs at least six months of validity left on your start date; check it now, not after an offer.
5. Arriving cold at the online assessments. They come before any interview, so a weak result can end the application before anyone has met you.
6. Dominating, or disappearing, in the group exercise. Assessors watch how you contribute, listen and help the group decide; both extremes fail that test.
7. A silent simulator session. Accurate flying without briefing, calling and monitoring is weak crew performance.
8. Stories and records that do not match. Competency answers that do not survive a follow-up question, or figures that differ from your logbook. Across the industry, the commonest reason an offer is withdrawn is a gap between what a candidate declared and what the records show.

From application to a course date

We found no published timings for Jet2’s stages. What is known:

Plan for a range, not a date. If your Class 1 would have less than six months to run on a likely start date, renew it early, and keep your theory sharp while you wait.

Jet2 pilot recruitment: common questions

The hours for each rank, the UK licence, English and medical rules are on our Jet2 pilot requirements page; the questions below are about the selection itself.

What is the Jet2 pilot selection process?

An online application, online assessments, an interview and group exercise, a simulator assessment and a medical. The medical needs a UK CAA Class 1 with at least six months of validity left on your start date. Jet2 names the stages, but the material we found does not describe what each one contains.

What is the Jet2 simulator assessment like?

Jet2 names a simulator assessment as its fourth stage but publishes no profile, device or crewing, and with rated and non-rated streams on both the 737 and the A321neo it may be on a type you have never flown. Prepare for the usual shape: a briefing on the numbers to fly, upper air work, a hold, an ILS to minimums with a missed approach and sometimes an engine failure, flown as one of a two-pilot crew, with raw-data flying and standard callouts in both roles.

How do I prepare for the Jet2 interview and group exercise?

They are one stage, so prepare both. For the interview: eight to ten true stories in the STAR structure, your reasons for Jet2 and for the rank, the type and the base, and, if you are not rated, why Jet2 should train you; Captain applicants should expect the command side. In the group exercise the assessors watch how you contribute, listen and help the group decide against the clock, so make your point once with a reason, build on others and bring a quieter member in.

Does Jet2 take non-type-rated pilots?

Yes. Jet2 runs rated and non-rated streams on the A321 and the 737, and at the last check, on 21 September 2026, its own careers site carried a vacancy for permanent non-type-rated pilots. The material we found did not say who pays for the rating or whether it is bonded.

Does Jet2 recruit Captains from outside?

Yes. The Captain route asks for 3,000 hours with 1,000 in command of medium or heavy multi-crew jets, and at the last check, on 21 September 2026, UK job boards were relaying rated Captain recruitment on the A321 and the 737.