Norwegian Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, Licence and Hiring Process
Norwegian’s status was unconfirmed at the last check, on 21 September 2026: its two First Officer vacancies, one for type-rated 737 pilots and one for experienced non-type-rated pilots, carried an application deadline of 31 August 2026, and no newer pilot vacancy had appeared in search results by then. No Captain or cadet vacancy was listed. The two routes set very different bars: a non-type-rated First Officer needs 1,500 hours total (800 for military pilots), with 500 on multi-crew, multi-engine aircraft; a type-rated First Officer needs 500 hours on the 737, with the rating on an EASA licence, and no total-time figure is published. Both need an EASA ATPL(A), or a CPL(A) with full ATPL theory, ELP Level 5 or higher, a Class 1, the right to live and work in the EU/EEC and an unrestricted passport, and a licence not issued by Denmark, Sweden or Norway must be converted within 12 months of signing. Norwegian flies only the Boeing 737, NG and MAX.
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 Norwegian hiring pilots now?
Unconfirmed at the last check on 21 September 2026 — First Officer seat: Unconfirmed; Captain seat: Not recruiting. Both FO vacancies closed on 31 Aug 2026 and nothing newer has appeared; a non-Scandinavian licence must convert within 12 months
What we found at the last check: Norwegian’s two First Officer vacancies, one for 737-rated and one for non-type-rated pilots, closed on 31 August 2026, and no newer pilot vacancy had appeared by 21 September 2026. There was no Captain or cadet vacancy.
How we checked
Both First Officer vacancies that were live on Norwegian's own careers site when it was read on 25 August 2026, 'First Officer B737' (Req. Id 2962) and 'Experienced Non Type Rated First Officers' (Req. Id 2976), carried an application deadline of 31.08.2026, which has passed, and no newer Norwegian pilot vacancy surfaced in search results on 21 September 2026 (the careers portal could not be read directly then). The status is therefore unconfirmed until the portal shows a new vacancy. No Captain and no cadet vacancy was listed.
Requirements, as published
| Requirement | As published by the airline |
|---|---|
| Licence | EASA ATPL(A), or CPL(A) plus full ATPL theory. Multi-engine IR must be valid at course start with Norwegian. Licence should preferably be issued by Denmark, Sweden or Norway; non-Scandinavian EASA licences are accepted but must be converted to a DK, SE or NO licence within 12 months of signing a contract with Norwegian. |
| Minimum hours | Non-type-rated route: 1500 hours total time (800 hours total time for military pilots). Type-rated B737 route: no overall total-time minimum is published - the only hours figure stated is 500 hours on type. |
| Hours on type | Non-type-rated route: 500 hours on multi-crew and multi-engine aircraft (not type-specific). Type-rated route: 500 hours on Boeing 737, and the rating must be or have been on an EASA licence. |
| Type rating | Not published. The non-type-rated vacancy does not state who funds the B737 type rating or whether a training bond applies. Norwegian's own December 2024 press release on its pilot-school collaboration says those hired start working immediately while receiving the type-rating course, but that statement concerns partner-school graduates, publishes no funding or bond terms, and must not be read as a promise that the rating is free on this vacancy. |
| Right to work | Must have the legal right to live and work in the EU/EEC region. Unrestricted passport required. No criminal record, and must be able to pass a 5-year security check. |
| Medical | EASA Medical Class 1, valid and current at the time of application. |
| English | English Language Proficiency (ELP) level 5 or higher. |
| Age | Not published. Neither vacancy states a minimum or maximum age. |
| Also | Two separate routes with materially different gates. The non-type-rated route needs 1500 hours total (800 military) plus 500 multi-crew/multi-engine; the type-rated route needs 500 hours on the B737 with the rating on an EASA licence and publishes no total-time figure at all. The licence-conversion rule is the most commonly missed condition: a non-Scandinavian EASA licence is accepted at application, but must be converted to a Danish, Swedish or Norwegian licence within 12 months of signing. Both ads require the applicant to already hold the legal right to live and work in the EU/EEC region; neither ad says anything either way about visa sponsorship, so do not assume it is offered or refused. Both ads shared one deadline, 31.08.2026, which has passed. Meeting these minima is explicitly not a guarantee of employment, and Norwegian reserves the right to amend the process and base availability. |
Entry routes
- Direct entry First Officer (experienced, non-type-rated) - applications closed on 31.08.2026
- Type-rated First Officer (Boeing 737) - applications closed on 31.08.2026
- Graduate hiring from partner flight schools (OSM Aviation Academy, Center Air Pilot Academy, TFHS Lund, FTEJerez). Norwegian does NOT run its own cadet or ab-initio programme and there is no cadet application route on its careers site. Under a December 2024 agreement, Norwegian gets to know students during training at these independent schools and may offer jobs to graduates it considers a fit - no place, sponsorship or job is promised, and the training is bought from and paid to the school, not Norwegian. Whether this arrangement is still active in 2026 is not confirmed on any Norwegian page.
The two First Officer routes side by side
| Detail | Experienced, non-type-rated | Type-rated B737 |
|---|---|---|
| Hours | 1,500 h total (800 h for military pilots), including 500 h on multi-crew, multi-engine aircraft | 500 h on the Boeing 737; no total-time figure published |
| Type rating | Not required; who funds the 737 rating, and whether it is bonded, is not published | Held, and on an EASA licence now or in the past |
| Training certificates | AUPRT and MCC, unless you hold or have held a multi-pilot type rating on an EASA licence | Not stated for this route |
| Common to both | EASA ATPL(A), or CPL(A) with full ATPL theory; multi-engine IR valid at course start; Class 1 and every licence valid at application; ELP 5 or higher; the right to live and work in the EU/EEC; an unrestricted passport; no criminal record and a 5-year security check; minimum height 157 cm | |
The base is fixed only in the contract offer, at any of Norwegian’s bases in the six countries listed under Bases and fleet. The contract is permanent, with pay and conditions set by collective agreement and not open to individual negotiation, and a successful candidate may wait in a pilot holding pool for a start date.
Norwegian and the other 737 operators in Europe
For a 737 pilot, the other European operators of the type on our jobs board, as recorded at each airline’s last check:
| Airline | Published minimum | Type rating | Status at last check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norwegian | 500 h on B737 if rated · 1,500 h if not | Not required · funding not published | Unconfirmed (21 September 2026) |
| Ryanair Group | 70–100 h PIC cadet · 700 h FO · 3,500 h Capt | Non-rated routes OK · cadets pay | Recruiting (12 October 2026) |
| Smartwings | 70 h PIC + UPRT · Capt 4,000 h | NTR: B737 trained · terms not published | Recruiting (29 September 2026) |
| Enter Air | 200 h | B737 trained · training agreement | Recruiting (29 September 2026) |
| SunExpress | Not published | Rated / non-rated | Unconfirmed (21 September 2026) |
| Air Europa | 500 h on B737 | Required · B737 | Unconfirmed (29 September 2026) |
| LOT Polish Airlines | 800 h (737) · 5,000 h (787) | Boeing preferred | Unconfirmed (21 September 2026) |
Selection process
- Online application via Norwegian's careers portal, uploading a current CV and a cover letter
- Confirmation email on submission, then screening of the application against the published minimum requirements
- Invitation to an Assessment Day if qualifications and experience match current needs
- Assessment Day: company presentation, group exercise, 2:1 interview, and a simulator session flown as both Pilot Flying and Pilot Monitoring
- Outcome communicated shortly after the Assessment Day; unsuccessful candidates are invited to reapply after 12 months
- Positive outcome may lead to an offer subject to operational needs and training capacity, or placement in Norwegian's pilot holding pool
- Pre-employment checks before employment starts: security interview, drug and alcohol testing, licence verification, employment history validation
Bases and fleet
Bases: Both ads state the position location as 'Europe', and state that an applicant may in the end receive an offer at any Norwegian base in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Latvia or Spain. The individual base airports are not named in the vacancy text. · 'Gardermoen, NO, 2060' appears as the administrative posting location on both requisitions. Norwegian does not state that the vacancy is for a Gardermoen base, and applicants should not read it as a base allocation. · Norwegian states it reserves the right to amend base availability at its discretion; the base is specified only in the contract offer.
Fleet: Boeing 737 NG · Boeing 737 MAX
How to prepare
Norwegian flies nothing but the 737, NG and MAX, so the B737 bank is the technical preparation: systems depth if you are rated, and the NG and MAX differences either way. A non-rated candidate is tested on whether they think like a professional pilot, which the ATPL theory banks cover. The Assessment Day is published: a company presentation, a group exercise, a 2:1 interview and a simulator session flown as both Pilot Flying and Pilot Monitoring. An Airbus pilot should expect the yoke, the manual trim and the rudder work of a conventional aeroplane, so brief the differences before the day.
Our Norwegian pilot interview guide covers the 737 simulator, the interview style and the technical questions for rated and non-rated candidates. For the 737 systems, the Library covers the hydraulic system, pitch control and stabiliser trim and the electrical system, and our top 25 B737 type rating questions are a quick check. Check Norwegian’s entry on the jobs board for the latest status.
What we could not confirm
- Age limits - no minimum or maximum age is published on either vacancy
- Type rating funding and bonding for the non-type-rated route - not published; do not assume the rating is free or that it is self-funded
- Total-time minimum for the type-rated B737 First Officer route - only the 500 hours on type is published
- Direct entry Captain - no captain vacancy was advertised on Norwegian's careers site on 25 August 2026, and it is not established whether DEC is offered at other times
- Specific base airports - the ads name only the six countries, not the individual bases; Oslo Gardermoen appears as the posting location rather than a confirmed base allocation
- Partner-school route detail - Norwegian's own December 2024 press release names the four schools but publishes no entry requirements, selection criteria, cost, bond terms or intake numbers, and gives no indication of how many graduates are actually hired
- Whether the December 2024 partner-school agreement is still in force in 2026 - it has not been restated on any Norwegian page since, and no partner-school route appears on the careers site. Do not enrol at one of these schools on the assumption that a Norwegian job follows.
- Pilot headcount is inconsistent across Norwegian's own material: the undated careers Pilots page says around 1,000 pilots, while the December 2024 press release says nearly 1,300 (690 based in Norway). Neither figure affects eligibility.
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 Norwegian hiring pilots? Unconfirmed at the last check, on 21 September 2026. Its two First Officer vacancies, one for type-rated 737 pilots and one for experienced non-type-rated pilots, had an application deadline of 31 August 2026, which has passed, and no newer Norwegian pilot vacancy appeared in search results on 21 September; the careers portal itself could not be read that day. No Captain or cadet vacancy was listed.
How many hours do you need to fly for Norwegian? It depends on the route. A non-type-rated First Officer needs 1,500 hours total, or 800 for military pilots, including 500 hours on multi-crew, multi-engine aircraft. A type-rated First Officer needs 500 hours on the Boeing 737, with the rating on an EASA licence now or in the past, and Norwegian publishes no total-time figure for that route.
Can I fly for Norwegian with a licence from outside Scandinavia? Yes, if it is an EASA licence. Norwegian prefers licences issued by Denmark, Sweden or Norway, accepts other EASA licences, and requires them to be converted to a Danish, Swedish or Norwegian licence within 12 months of signing a contract. You also need the legal right to live and work in the EU/EEC region and an unrestricted passport.
Does Norwegian have a cadet programme? No. Norwegian runs no cadet or ab-initio programme of its own and has no cadet application route on its careers site. Under an agreement announced in December 2024 it gets to know students at four independent schools, OSM Aviation Academy, Center Air Pilot Academy, TFHS Lund and FTEJerez, and may offer jobs to graduates it considers a fit; no place, sponsorship or job is promised, the training is paid to the school, and the arrangement is not confirmed as still active.
What happens at the Norwegian assessment day? Norwegian publishes the format: a company presentation, a group exercise, a 2:1 interview and a simulator session flown as both Pilot Flying and Pilot Monitoring. The outcome follows shortly afterwards. Unsuccessful candidates are invited to reapply after 12 months; a successful one may receive an offer or a place in the pilot holding pool, and then pre-employment checks: a security interview, drug and alcohol testing, licence verification and employment history validation.
Prepare for the assessment, not just the application
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