Non-Type-Rated First Officer Jobs 2026: 80 Airlines That Train You on Type

A type rating is the course that qualifies you on one aircraft, and it is often the most expensive step between a licence and a first airline seat. 80 of the 121 airlines on our jobs board publish a First or Second Officer entry for pilots who do not hold the rating: they provide it, arrange it or sell it, and 21 of them run a separate rated stream beside it. At the last check 43 of them had the First Officer seat open. This page lists each one with its lowest non-rated entry, what its record says about who pays for the rating, and the traps in these vacancies: the bond, the hours that count, the courses you need first.

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Interview study guides for these airlines

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 for €19.99 (every guide on sale, plus the Qatar Airways guide, sold only in the bundle). 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 →flydubaiBoeing 737 First Officer
27-page PDF · 64 interview questionsGET THE PDF · €4.99 →RyanairBoeing 737 Type Rated First Officer
28-page PDF · 69 interview questionsGET THE PDF · €4.99 →Jet2Boeing 737 First Officer
31-page PDF · 69 interview questionsGET THE PDF · €4.99 →easyJetA320 Direct Entry First Officer
29-page PDF · 65 interview questionsGET THE PDF · €4.99 →Wizz AirA320 Family First Officer
29-page PDF · 64 interview questionsGET THE PDF · €4.99 →British AirwaysA320 Direct Entry First Officer
30-page PDF · 66 interview questionsGET THE PDF · €4.99 →

First Officer seat open (43)

Taking First Officer applications, or holding a First Officer pool or expression-of-interest list, at the last check. Where an airline runs rated and non-rated streams, check that the non-rated one is the stream that is open.

Not recruiting First Officers at the last check (7)

A non-rated First Officer route exists, but no vacancy or campaign was open when we last checked. Most of these recruit in campaigns, so watch their careers pages.

First Officer status unconfirmed (30)

We found these airlines’ non-rated entry but could not establish from their own pages whether a First Officer vacancy was open.

Who pays for the type rating?

“Provided” is not the same as free. Our records quote what each airline publishes, and most publish only that the rating is provided, arranged or not required; the column “Type rating, as recorded” in the tables above gives each one’s words. Where the records say more, they fall these ways:

• Paid by the airline, with no bond published: SAS’s First Officer and Captain pages say the type rating is paid for by SAS, and its Experienced First Officer advert carries no bonding clause; Air France provides the rating and publishes no bond or training cost for its direct-entry stream.
• Provided against a bond or a co-payment: TAP binds you for three years from line release, with an indemnity of at least EUR 20,500, reduced pro rata, if you resign earlier; flydubai’s training bond reduces over 36 months from USD 36,000 for a non-rated joiner (USD 24,000 if rated); Scoot has published a 50% co-payment for its B787 type-rating course, repaid over five years, though whether these are its current terms we could not confirm.
• Paid by you, on some routes: Ryanair’s cadet type-rating programme is self-sponsored for its Europe and Ryanair UK intakes, and partly sponsored for its UK intake with Ryanair DAC, where cadets pay EUR 5,000 up front and then a yearly reducing training-costs agreement, while for its direct-entry non-rated pilots it publishes no terms.
• Provided, terms not published: Wizz Air provides the A320 rating but does not publish the cost, bond or repayment; Norwegian’s non-rated vacancy did not say who funds the 737 rating or whether a bond applies; Enter Air trains the 737 rating in Warsaw under a training agreement whose cost and bond are not published; Smartwings trains its non-rated First Officers on the 737NG without publishing the cost or bond; Iberia does not publish whether it provides, funds or bonds the rating; Etihad’s adverts publish no bond terms, though pilots report one, reportedly higher for non-rated joiners; British Airways’ Euroflyer campaign was described in job aggregators’ copies as company-funded and unbonded for non-rated pilots, which we could not confirm on BA’s own pages; Akasa Air arranges the 737 rating, and its funding terms are among the points we could not confirm.

For the other 66 airlines on this page, ask before you sign: who pays for the course, whether a bond applies and how it reduces, whether it is deducted from salary, and what you owe if you fail the course or leave early. The airline-backed routes from zero hours, and who pays on each, are on the cadet programmes page.

The United States is the exception to the question. 18 of the 21 US airlines on our board publish a First Officer entry without a type rating, and none wants one; the rest do not say. There the gate is the licence, not the rating: a US airline First Officer needs the FAA ATP, at 1,500 hours or the restricted ATP’s lower minimums.

The airlines that want a rating

A type rating needed to apply (17): Air Europa, Air India (incl. Air India Express), Edelweiss, Emirates, Greater Bay Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, ITA Airways, KLM, Oman Air, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, Singapore Airlines, STARLUX Airlines, VietJet Air, Vietnam Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Viva Aerobus. Not always on the airline’s own type: KLM asks for a valid multi-pilot type rating to apply, then puts you through its own type rating on whichever fleet has training capacity; Emirates asks for a current rating on the aircraft you fly now and trains you on its own fleet against a bond of USD 42,000 over 42 months. A pilot with no rating at all cannot apply to these, but a rating on another type opens the door.

Not published or unclear (24): Aer Lingus, Air Mauritius, Airlink, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Discover Airlines, Endeavor Air, EVA Air, flynas, Helvetic Airways, Horizon Air, Kenya Airways, Korean Air, Lufthansa Group, Luxair, Malaysia Airlines (MAG), Peach Aviation, Porter Airlines, Qatar Airways, Saudia, Sun Country Airlines, SWISS International Air Lines, Turkish Airlines, Volaris. This includes airlines with no First Officer entry outside a cadet scheme, and airlines whose own pages contradict each other; each entry on the jobs board says what we found.

How to read a non-type-rated vacancy

• Non-rated is not low-hours. Many non-rated streams are for experienced pilots who lack only the airline’s type, and they ask for more hours than the rated stream: Norwegian’s non-rated route asked for 1,500 hours total, where its type-rated route asked only for 500 hours on the 737; flydubai’s non-rated First Officer, as job boards relay it, needs 2,500 hours against 1,500 on multi-pilot aircraft for a rated one; Ethiopian’s non-rated 737 First Officers need 1,500 hours; Japan Airlines’ B787 campaign, rated or not, asked for 4,000 hours with commercial airlines and 1,500 in command of aircraft of 55 tonnes or more. The low-hours doors are on the low-hour pilot jobs page.
• Hours with a qualifier. Wizz Air’s experienced non-rated First Officer needs 500 hours on a multi-pilot multi-engine turbine aeroplane with a commercial air transport operator; SAS asks for 400 hours on CS-25 or FAR-25 aircraft; Iberia’s 500 hours are on CS-25 aeroplanes. Instructing hours in a single-engine piston do not count towards these. Every airline’s figure is on the hours requirements page.
• The courses before the course. Norwegian asks for upset prevention and recovery training (AUPRT) and an MCC on its non-rated route, unless you hold or have held a multi-pilot type rating; Wizz Air’s experienced non-rated First Officers need a jet orientation course or an APS MCC, waived if you have flown a jet. See the MCC courses and upset prevention and recovery articles.
• A rating can lapse into non-rated. Ryanair reclassifies a 737-rated pilot as non-rated, with a full transition course, below 800 hours on type and 1,000 on CS-25 aircraft, or after 36 months off the aircraft. A rating you paid for yourself, with no hours on the type, may not get you into a rated stream.
• Non-rated doors open in campaigns. Aegean’s non-rated A320 call closed on 30 September 2026; Norwegian’s closed on 31 August 2026; British Airways’ Euroflyer campaign closed by 30 June 2026; Vueling’s non-rated A320 route was closed. The F/O seat in the tables is the airline’s, at the date shown; check the stream itself on the careers page.
• Licence and passport first. Air France’s direct entry is for EEA and Swiss nationals, with French at level 6 for non-native speakers; flyadeal’s non-rated streams are for Saudi nationals; EgyptAir’s First Officer intake is for Egyptian nationals; Air Astana’s low-hours non-rated route is for Kazakhstani citizens. The regional pages set out the licence and right-to-work rules: Europe, North America, Middle East, Asia-Pacific.

Before the type rating comes the selection: the top 50 A320 interview questions, the A320 and 737 type rating questions, and the complete interview guide. The class and type ratings article explains what a type rating covers.

Common questions

Which airlines hire non-type-rated First Officers? 80 of the 121 airlines on our jobs board publish a First or Second Officer entry for pilots without a type rating, 21 of them beside a separate rated stream. 43 had the First Officer seat open, recruiting or holding a pool, at the last check; the table “First Officer seat open” on this page lists them with the date each was checked. Check the non-rated stream itself on the airline’s careers page before applying.

Do airlines pay for your type rating? Some do, and few publish the terms. SAS’s First Officer and Captain pages say the type rating is paid for by SAS, and its Experienced First Officer advert carries no bonding clause; Air France provides the rating and publishes no bond or training cost for its direct-entry stream; TAP binds you for three years from line release, with an indemnity of at least EUR 20,500, reduced pro rata, if you resign earlier; flydubai’s training bond reduces over 36 months from USD 36,000 for a non-rated joiner (USD 24,000 if rated). Most airlines say only that the rating is provided or arranged, so ask who pays, whether a bond applies and what you owe if you leave early.

How many hours do I need for a non-type-rated First Officer job? There is no single figure. The lowest published non-rated entry points on our board, each in the airline’s own measure (total, pilot-in-command or multi-crew hours): Air France (no minimum beyond the licence); Binter (no minimum beyond the licence); Vueling (no minimum beyond the licence); Smartwings (70 h); Aegean Airlines (70 h); Jet2.com (100 h). Many non-rated streams are for experienced pilots and ask for more hours than the rated stream, often counted on multi-pilot or large aircraft only.

What does non-type-rated mean? Without a rating on the airline’s aircraft type. A non-type-rated First Officer joins with a licence and the hours the airline asks for, and the airline provides, arranges or sells the type rating. Some airlines want a rating on some other type held at application even though they train you on their own; this page lists them separately.

Do US airlines require a type rating for First Officers? Not on our board: 18 of the 21 US airlines publish a First Officer entry without a type rating, none wants one, and the rest do not say. The gate in the US is the FAA ATP certificate, at 1,500 hours or the restricted ATP minimums, not the rating.