Kenya Airways Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, License and Hiring Process

Kenya Airways, Kenya’s flag carrier, takes its First Officers at low hours and from home: its last First Officer posting, permanent and based in Nairobi, was for Kenyan citizens. It asked for 250 hours of flight time to be employed and 200 hours to be invited to interview, with simulator time excluded from both, and for a valid KCAA CPL or ATPL with an instrument rating, a multi-engine rating, a Performance A rating and a gas turbine rating, a Class 1 medical and KCAA English proficiency Level 4 or above. Whether that door is open now is unconfirmed: at the last check, on 21 October 2026, the listing on Kenya Airways’ careers portal showed an expiry date of 31 December 2025, as search results showed it, and we found no newer pilot listing. The fleet flies from Nairobi: Boeing 787-8s, a 777-300ER back from lease and on the London route since July 2026, 737-800s, Embraer E190s and four 737 freighters.

Is Kenya Airways hiring pilots now?

Unconfirmed at the last check on 21 October 2026 — First Officer seat: Unconfirmed; Captain seat: Unconfirmed. Direct-entry First Officers from 250 h of flight time (200 h to be invited to interview), simulator time excluded; a KCAA CPL or ATPL with instrument, multi-engine, Performance A and gas turbine ratings; Kenyan citizens only. The last posting expired on 31 December 2025

Requirements, as published

Reading the requirements line by line

• Two thresholds, both without the simulator. With 200 hours of flight time you can be invited to interview, and with 250 you are eligible to be employed; neither figure counts simulator time. ICAO’s floor for a commercial license is 200 hours of flight time, or 150 on an approved training course (ICAO Annex 1), so a pilot licensed from an approved course can hold a CPL with fewer than the 200 hours the posting asks for before an interview. Total your logbook with the simulator lines taken out before you apply.
• A Kenyan license, for Kenyan citizens. The posting asks for a valid CPL or ATPL issued by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), and it was open to Kenyan citizens only, so a Kenyan pilot trained abroad needs the KCAA license before applying.
• Four ratings on it. An instrument rating and a multi-engine rating, and two the posting does not explain: Performance A and gas turbines. KCAA examines both: its 2026 examination timetable (AIC 02/26, January 2026) lists sittings of a “TTR, Performance A & Basic Gas Turbines” paper. Performance class A is the class of multi-engine jets and larger multi-engine turboprops, the airplanes airlines fly (the Library explains performance classes A, B and C). If either is missing from your license, ask your school or KCAA how to add it before you apply.
• English at Level 4 or above. Level 4 is the operational level of ICAO’s six-level scale, the minimum for pilots on international flights. ICAO recommends re-testing a Level 4 holder at least every three years and a Level 5 holder at least every six, so check the date of the language endorsement on your license.
• School grades and height. The November 2025 posting, as job boards copied it, also asked for a KCSE mean grade of C- or above, with at least C- in Mathematics, English and Physics or General Science, and a minimum height of 160 cm.

Entry routes

• Direct entry First Officer — permanent, Nairobi, Kenyan citizens: 250 h of flight time for employment, 200 h to interview (the last listing expired on 31 December 2025)
• Ab initio pilot trainee program — not currently offered: suspended indefinitely in June 2020 (Business Daily); no later intake found
• Direct entry Captain — not published on Kenya Airways’ own pages (an undated job-board copy of a Captain posting could not be found on the careers portal)

Kenya Airways beside the region’s airlines

Kenya Airways beside the other airlines in Africa on our jobs board, as recorded at each airline’s last check:

Read the right-to-work column first: several of these airlines, Kenya Airways among them, hire First Officers only from their own country, and for a Kenyan pilot under 500 hours without a type rating, Kenya Airways is the only published door on this list.

We found no other published way in. Kenya Airways’ ab initio pilot trainee program, which sent its cadets to South Africa for flight training, was suspended indefinitely in June 2020, as Business Daily reported from a High Court ruling on the program in October 2022, and we found no later intake. We found no Captain posting on Kenya Airways’ own pages: a job-board copy of a Captain posting for the E-Jet, the 737NG, the 737 freighter and the 787, asking for 3,500 hours on commercial jets, carries no date and we could not find it on the careers portal, so treat it as a lead only.

Selection process

1. Application on the Kenya Airways careers portal
2. Shortlisting against the posting’s requirements (job-board copies say only shortlisted candidates are contacted)
3. Interview, open from 200 h of flight time, simulator time excluded

What the posting says about the selection

Kenya Airways publishes little about its selection beyond the posting itself, which job boards copied in 2025:

• The application goes through the careers portal, careers.kenya-airways.com, where the First Officer listing sat in the Operations division as a permanent post in Nairobi. Job-board copies say that only shortlisted candidates are contacted.
• The interview is open from 200 hours of flight time, simulator excluded, while employment needs 250, so you can be interviewed before you reach the employment minimum. The posting does not say what the interview includes, or whether a simulator or aptitude assessment comes with it.
• No fees. A job board that copied the posting warns applicants never to pay for notarization, certificates or assessments during recruitment, so apply through the careers portal and treat a request for money as a warning sign.

Aviation A2Z’s article on Kenya Airways pilot pay of 20 September 2026 describes a longer process: after the screening, aptitude and psychometric tests (numerical ability, situational judgment, decision-making), a technical assessment of aviation knowledge, aircraft systems and regulations, and an interview on communication, teamwork, judgment and safety awareness. It cites no Kenya Airways source and we could not confirm it from the airline, so prepare for all three.

Bases and fleet

Bases: Nairobi, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the airline’s hub: the First Officer posting is permanent and based in Nairobi

Fleet: Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners; engine turnaround times of 90 to 120 days limited fleet availability in the first half of 2026 (half-year results, 25 August 2026, as Aviation Week reported them) · A Boeing 777-300ER, back from a lease to Turkish Airlines and on the Nairobi–London Heathrow route from 17 July 2026 (CAPA; The Star, June 2026) · Boeing 737-800 and Embraer E190 · Four Boeing 737 freighters (Aviation Week, 2026)

How to prepare

Kenya Airways flies Boeings and Embraers, and we could not confirm which type a new First Officer flies first, so prepare on the family you are most likely to join: the B737 bank below for the 737-800, the E-Jet bank for the E190 and, for the Dreamliner, the B787 bank; there is no 777 bank on v1prep. At 250 hours, theory carries more of an interview than experience does, so keep the ATPL theory banks fresh, above all the performance, turbine engine and instrument procedure subjects behind the ratings the posting names. Kenya Airways does not publish what its interview includes, so prepare for technical questions on your training and the aircraft, and for competency questions, with the CRM interview set for crew resource management; a press report also describes aptitude tests (see the selection section above), so some timed practice of the kind the Library’s pilot aptitude tests describes does no harm. Do the paperwork first: total your logbook with the simulator lines taken out, since neither the 200 hours nor the 250 count them; check that your license carries the instrument, multi-engine, Performance A and gas turbine ratings and your English proficiency level; and have your KCSE certificate ready for the grades the posting asks for.

Kenya Airways 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 technical questions in airline interviews. For the ratings the posting names, the Library explains performance classes A, B and C and gas turbine principles, thrust and ratings, and its pilot CV and application shows how to set out your flight hours. To compare the continent’s other airlines, read Ethiopian Airlines pilot requirements and our page on airline pilot jobs in Africa, and low-hour pilot jobs lists every airline on our board that takes First Officers under 500 hours. Check Kenya Airways’ entry on the jobs board for the latest status.

What we could not confirm

• Researched on 21 October 2026 from search-engine results of the airline’s own careers portal, job postings and industry job boards — not from a direct read of the portal. Confirm the vacancy is still open before you apply.
• Whether a First Officer listing is open now: the last one we found on the careers portal expired on 31 December 2025, and we found no newer pilot listing
• Which type a new First Officer flies first, who pays for the type rating, and whether the two-year bond on the type rating course that the 2024 Second Officer postings named still applies
• What the interview includes, and whether a simulator or aptitude assessment comes with it: the postings we found name only the interview, and a press article of September 2026 that describes aptitude, psychometric and technical tests cites no Kenya Airways source
• Age limits, which the postings we found do not state
• Captain recruitment: an undated job-board copy of a Captain posting for the E-Jet, 737NG, 737 freighter and 787 asked for 3,500 h on commercial jets; we could not date it or find it on the careers portal
• Whether the ab initio pilot trainee program, suspended in June 2020, will reopen
• The fleet plan Kenya Airways’ management described in June and July 2026, as reported: 100 aircraft by 2035, with 60 or 67 by 2030 depending on the report, and what it means for pilot hiring

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 Kenya Airways hiring pilots? Unconfirmed at the last check, on 21 October 2026. The last First Officer listing we found on Kenya Airways’ careers portal, permanent and based in Nairobi, showed an expiry date of 31 December 2025 and was marked expired in search results, and we found no newer pilot listing. Watch the careers portal for the next one.

How many hours do you need to fly for Kenya Airways? 250 hours of flight time to be employed as a First Officer, and 200 hours to be invited to interview, with simulator time excluded from both, in the posting as job boards copied it in November 2025.

Can foreign pilots apply to Kenya Airways? Not to the First Officer posting: it was for Kenyan citizens, and it asked for a license issued by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority. We found no posting for foreign pilots on Kenya Airways’ own pages.

What license and ratings does Kenya Airways require? A valid KCAA CPL or ATPL with an instrument rating, a multi-engine rating, a Performance A rating and a gas turbine rating, a Class 1 medical and KCAA English proficiency Level 4 or above. The November 2025 posting also asked for a KCSE mean grade of C- or above, with at least C- in Mathematics, English and Physics or General Science, and a minimum height of 160 cm. No type rating was asked for.

Does Kenya Airways have a cadet program? Not at the last check. Its ab initio pilot trainee program, which sent cadets to South Africa for flight training, was suspended indefinitely in June 2020, as Business Daily reported from a High Court ruling in October 2022, and we found no later intake. The published way in is the direct-entry First Officer posting, with an interview from 200 hours of flight time.