Pegasus Airlines Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, License and Hiring Process
Pegasus Airlines, based at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, flies an almost all-Airbus fleet: 72 A321neos, 46 A320neos and six A320ceos beside nine Boeing 737-800s, 133 aircraft of its own by ch-aviation’s count of 2 October 2026, with 100 Boeing 737-10s on firm order since December 2024, and since 1 October 2026 it has owned the Smartwings group. At the last check, on 30 October 2026, which rested on search results, we found no dated vacancy for experienced pilots, so its seat status is unconfirmed. Job boards relayed a type-rated B737NG First Officer posting with no hours minimum, and undated or closed A320 and 737 First Officer and Captain postings; they asked for an ATPL, or a CPL with the ATPL theory, Turkish or EASA, a Class 1 and ICAO English Level 4, with a Turkish work permit and Turkish nationals prioritized. Its 2026 Pilot Training Program for second-officer candidates closed to applications on 2 March 2026 (AeroHaber). The bases on record are Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, Izmir, Antalya and Ankara.
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 Pegasus Airlines hiring pilots now?
Unconfirmed at the last check on 30 October 2026 — First Officer seat: Unconfirmed; Captain seat: Unconfirmed. Rated B737NG First Officer posting relayed with no hours minimum; board interview with two Captains, MMPI personality inventory, then medical
What we found at the last check: At the last check, on 30 October 2026, which rested on search results rather than a direct read of Pegasus’ careers site, we found no dated vacancy for experienced pilots: job boards relayed undated or closed B737 and A320 First Officer and Captain postings, one saying applications go into a candidate pool, and Pegasus’ 2026 Pilot Training Program for second-officer candidates had closed to applications on 2 March 2026 (AeroHaber, 17 February 2026). On 8 November 2026 a download of its Turkish careers page held only links to its career areas, with no vacancy text, so the seat status stays unconfirmed.
How we checked
Read on 8 November 2026 (reviewer) through the GitHub runner’s downloads of that day (tools/careers/src/pgs-*.txt): Pegasus’ Turkish careers page (flypgs.com/pegasus-kariyer), which held only links to its career areas (cabin crew, cockpit, ground operations, head office, technical, the Jumpseat internship, GoYoung) and no vacancy text; its Peoplebox job list, which answered “Account not found”; its press release “Pegasus opens doors to expats” (flypgs.com), “Last Modified: 10 June 2022”, which speaks of new aircraft coming into operation in 2019 and offers the Commander Upgrade, self-type-rating training for pilots experienced on other types, “Type Rating and Line Training with guaranteed employment to inexperienced candidates” and its Pilot Training Programme, the last marked “Only applicable for Turkish Candidates”, with the Turkish careers page for Turkish citizens and flypgs.com/en/careers/pegasus-careers “For citizens of other countries”; AeroHaber’s report of 17 February 2026 (second-officer candidate recruitment for the 2026 Pilot Training Program, final application date 2 March 2026, applications only through the online career platform; no eligibility given); the 2024 Pilot Training Program posting on kariyer.net (posted 9 January 2024, closing 7 February 2024, no longer taking applications): Turkish citizens born on or after 1 January 1993, a bachelor’s degree from a Turkish university, or a foreign one with YÖK equivalence, IELTS 6 overall with 6.5 in speaking and listening (or TOEFL iBT 75 with 22 in each, or iTEP Academic Plus 3.7 with 4.0 in each), able to meet the Class 1 medical, a height of 160 to 195 cm within Pegasus’ body-mass standard, no military service due within two years, no criminal record and no earlier pilot training; selection by a document check and body-mass measurement at Pegasus’ head office, the Skytest psychometric test, a behavioral and a psychological inventory, board interviews and the medical at institutions authorized by the SHGM; every training cost disclosed before the offer and covered through salary deductions; Boeing’s release of 19 December 2024 (a firm order for 100 737-10s with options for 100 more, to complement Pegasus’ Next-Generation 737s; no delivery dates); Pegasus’ investor-relations home page (a headline on the completed Smartwings purchase; no fleet figures); and Flightdeck Friend’s copy of a “B737 / A320 Rated Captains and First Officers” posting, dated 28 August 2019 and closed (Captains 4,500 h with 1,000 h on type as commander, at most 60; First Officers 1,000 h on type, at most 50). Not downloaded: the English careers pages (flypgs.com/en/career, /en/careers/pegasus-careers) and PilotsGlobal’s copy of the B737NG First Officer posting. No vacancy was read, so the status, requirements and selection for experienced pilots stay those of 30 October 2026, and so does lastVerified. Search results on 30 October 2026 (Pegasus’ careers site could not be opened from the sandbox, and no runner download was available): Pegasus’ 2026 Pilot Training Program for second-officer candidates closed to applications on 2 March 2026 (AeroHaber; search results also gave it as open to Turkish candidates, which AeroHaber’s report, read on 8 November 2026, does not say); Pegasus’ press release “Pegasus opens doors to expats” (flypgs.com; undated in search results, last modified on 10 June 2022 on the page read on 8 November 2026) points citizens of other countries to its English careers page and offers candidates without experience type rating and line training with guaranteed employment; job boards (Flightdeck Friend, PilotsGlobal, AviationCV) relay undated or closed B737 and A320 First Officer and Captain postings, one saying applications go into a candidate pool used as the company needs pilots. No dated vacancy for experienced pilots was found, so the status stays unconfirmed. Fleet re-read on 8 November 2026 from the runner’s download of 6 November 2026 of ch-aviation’s report of 2 October 2026 (tools/careers/src/2026-11-06-smartwings-pegasus-chaviation.txt, direct): Pegasus’ in-house fleet of six A320-200s, 46 A320-200Ns, 72 A321-200NXs and nine B737-800s, 133 aircraft in all, and its completed purchase of the Smartwings group on 1 October 2026 through its subsidiary Pegasus Europe B.V.; the record of 30 October 2026 listed the 737-800 first and no A320ceo, corrected.
Requirements, as published
| Requirement | As published by the airline |
|---|---|
| License | ATPL or CPL with ATPL theory (SHGM/EASA) |
| Minimum hours | Not published on the relayed posting |
| Type rating | B737 rated on the relayed posting |
| Right to work | Turkish work permit; Turkish nationals prioritized |
| Medical | Class 1 |
| English | ICAO Level 4 |
Reading the requirements line by line
The requirements above are those of the postings that job boards relayed and of Pegasus’ pages as search results showed them on 30 October 2026, not of a vacancy we read on Pegasus’ own careers site; a download of the site on 8 November 2026 held only links to its career areas. Read each one with that in mind:
- The rating, not the hours, is the filter. The type-rated B737NG First Officer posting set no hours minimum but asked for a 737 rating. Nine of Pegasus’ 133 aircraft were 737-800s in ch-aviation’s count of 2 October 2026, so that posting was for a small fleet today, though Pegasus has 100 Boeing 737-10s on firm order and options on 100 more (Boeing, 19 December 2024); whether the posting is still open is among the points we could not confirm.
- The license. An ATPL, or a CPL with the ATPL theory passed, issued by Turkey’s civil aviation authority (SHGM) or under EASA, with a Class 1 medical and English at ICAO Level 4 on the license. The postings we recorded say nothing more about an EASA license, so ask before you rely on one.
- The right to work. A Turkish work permit, with Turkish nationals prioritized. A press release on Pegasus’ site, “Pegasus opens doors to expats”, last modified on 10 June 2022 and written as new aircraft were joining the fleet in 2019, points citizens of other countries to its English careers page and offers candidates without experience type rating and line training with guaranteed employment; it is not evidence of a current campaign, and whether expatriates are eligible now is among the points we could not confirm.
- A pool, not a seat. One relayed posting said applications go into a candidate pool that Pegasus draws on as it needs pilots, so an application may wait.
- The route from zero hours. Pegasus’ Pilot Training Program takes candidates with no flying experience and trains them as second officers. Its 2026 intake closed to applications on 2 March 2026, as the Turkish aviation news site AeroHaber reported on 17 February 2026. The posting for its 2024 intake, on the Turkish job board kariyer.net (open from 9 January to 7 February 2024), asked for Turkish citizens born on or after 1 January 1993, with a bachelor’s degree, IELTS 6 overall and 6.5 in speaking and listening (or a set TOEFL or iTEP score), a height of 160 to 195 cm and no earlier pilot training; its selection ran from a document check and the Skytest psychometric test through personality inventories and board interviews to the medical, and the training cost was to be covered through deductions from salary. Whether the 2026 intake had the same terms is among the points we could not confirm.
Entry routes
- Type-rated First Officer B737NG — relayed
- Non-rated First Officer: Pegasus’ press release last modified on 10 June 2022 offered inexperienced candidates type rating and line training with guaranteed employment; no current posting found
- Pilot Training Program (cadet, ab initio, to second officer): the 2026 intake closed to applications on 2 March 2026 (AeroHaber, 17 February 2026); the 2024 intake’s posting (kariyer.net, 9 January to 7 February 2024) was for Turkish citizens born on or after 1 January 1993 with no earlier pilot training, the training cost covered through salary deductions
- Direct entry Captain — relayed by boards
Pegasus beside its peers
Pegasus beside the other airlines we compare it with, as recorded at each airline’s last check:
| Airline | Published minimum | Type rating | Right to work | Status at last check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pegasus Airlines | Not published | B737 rated | Turkey | Unconfirmed (30 October 2026) |
| Turkish Airlines | Not published | Not published | Cadet: Turkish citizen/blue card | Unconfirmed (12 October 2026) |
| SunExpress | Not published | Rated / non-rated | TR / DE · age limits | Unconfirmed (30 October 2026) |
| Smartwings | 70 h PIC + UPRT · Capt 3,000 h | NTR: B737 trained · terms not published | EU passport (Capt) | Recruiting (6 November 2026) |
| Air France | No minimum · 70 h PIC if no CS-25 rating | Provided · no bond published | EEA or Swiss · no sponsorship | Recruiting (21 October 2026) |
| easyJet | Capt only: 4,000 h · 500 h on A320 | A320 held, or trained · funding options | UK · EU for Marrakesh role | Recruiting (12 October 2026) |
| KLM | 500 h ME + 150 h/12 mth · 1,000 h B747F | MPA rating required · KLM assigns fleet | EU passport · EEA/CH unconfirmed | Recruiting (13 October 2026) |
Read each row with its date. Turkish Airlines, also unconfirmed at its last check, recruits in campaign windows and listed no open position on 25 August 2026; SunExpress, the other Turkish airline on our board, publishes its cockpit criteria on its own HR portal, with age limits at the start of the ground course; Smartwings, Pegasus’ Czech subsidiary since 1 October 2026, recruits on its own careers page; Air France, easyJet and KLM give the wider European comparison.
Selection process
- Application
- Board interview (HR plus two Captains)
- MMPI personality inventory
- Medical (fitness for flight)
Bases and fleet
Bases: Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen · Izmir · Antalya · Ankara
Fleet: Airbus A321neo: 72 (ch-aviation’s fleet count, 2 October 2026) · Airbus A320neo: 46 (the same count) · Airbus A320ceo: six (the same count) · Boeing 737-800: nine (the same count); 133 aircraft of its own in all · Boeing 737-10: 100 on firm order, with options for 100 more (Boeing and Pegasus, 19 December 2024; no delivery dates given)
The fleet, the bases and Smartwings
By ch-aviation’s fleet count, reported on 2 October 2026, Pegasus flew 133 aircraft of its own: 72 A321neos, 46 A320neos, six A320ceos and nine 737-800s. That makes 124 of the 133 A320-family Airbuses, 118 of them neos, and the 737-800s a fleet of nine. The Boeing side is set to grow: on 19 December 2024 Pegasus and Boeing announced a firm order for 100 737-10s, with options for 100 more, which Boeing said would complement Pegasus’ Next-Generation 737s; the release gave no delivery dates.
On 1 October 2026 Pegasus completed its purchase of the Smartwings group, through its Dutch subsidiary Pegasus Europe B.V., according to a stock-exchange filing that ch-aviation reported on 2 October 2026; Pegasus now controls all of České aerolinie, and Smartwings said it would keep operating under the Smartwings and CSA Czech Airlines brands. ch-aviation counted the group’s 45 aircraft of its own on four air operator certificates, in Czechia, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. We found no announcement of what the purchase means for pilot recruitment (6 November 2026); Smartwings’ seats are on its own requirements page.
How to prepare
Most of Pegasus’ aircraft are A320neo-family Airbuses, so the A320 bank is the core of the technical preparation for most of its seats, with the A320ceo to neo quiz for what the neo changes and the A319 / A320 / A321 quiz for the differences between the sizes; the Library’s A320neo and A320ceo differences sets out the same ground in prose. The B737 bank covers the 737-800 that the relayed type-rated First Officer posting was for; if you hold a 737 rating and are weighing the Airbus seats, read A320 and 737 systems compared. The selection that job boards and search results relayed is short: the application, a board interview with HR and two Captains, the MMPI personality inventory and a medical for fitness to fly. Prepare for a panel: the Library’s competency-based pilot interviews covers panel interviews and the questions about your experience, and pilot aptitude tests and personality and motivation cover what a personality inventory looks at; answer it honestly and consistently. The steps we recorded include no simulator assessment, so ask what the day holds when you are invited. Have your logbook totals, your license with its English proficiency endorsement and your Class 1 ready to show, and if your license is EASA rather than Turkish, ask Pegasus what it requires of it before you accept an offer.
Pegasus has no interview guide on v1prep yet, so for the selection read the complete airline pilot interview guide and the Library’s airline pilot recruitment and selection. For the other airlines of Turkey and the group, read Turkish Airlines pilot requirements, with its interview guide, and Smartwings pilot requirements; for the whole field, A320 pilot jobs and Boeing 737 pilot jobs. Check Pegasus’ entry on the jobs board for the latest status.
What we could not confirm
- Researched on 30 October 2026 from search-engine results of the airline’s own careers pages, job postings and industry job boards — not from a direct read of the portal. Read directly on 8 November 2026 through the GitHub runner: Pegasus’ Turkish careers page, which held only links to its career areas, its press release “Pegasus opens doors to expats” (last modified on 10 June 2022), AeroHaber’s report of 17 February 2026, the 2024 Pilot Training Program posting on kariyer.net and Boeing’s release of 19 December 2024. Confirm the vacancy is still open before you apply.
- Whether the relayed posting is live: PilotsGlobal’s copy of the type-rated B737NG First Officer posting could not be downloaded on 8 November 2026, and Flightdeck Friend’s copy of a B737 / A320 rated Captain and First Officer posting dates from 28 August 2019 and is closed
- Expatriate eligibility: the press release of 2022 points citizens of other countries to Pegasus’ English careers page, which could not be downloaded on 8 November 2026
- Whether the 2026 Pilot Training Program had the terms of the 2024 posting (Turkish citizens born on or after 1 January 1993, a bachelor’s degree, set English test scores, no earlier pilot training, the training cost covered through salary deductions): AeroHaber’s report of the 2026 intake gives none of them
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 Pegasus Airlines hiring pilots? Unconfirmed at the last check, on 30 October 2026, which rested on search results rather than a direct read of its careers site: we found no dated vacancy for experienced pilots, and job boards relayed undated or closed B737 and A320 First Officer and Captain postings. A download of its Turkish careers page on 8 November 2026 held only links to its career areas, with no vacancy text. Its 2026 Pilot Training Program for second-officer candidates closed to applications on 2 March 2026, as AeroHaber reported. Check Pegasus’ careers page before you apply.
How many flight hours do you need to fly for Pegasus? Pegasus publishes no standing minimum that we could read. The type-rated B737NG First Officer posting that job boards relayed set no hours minimum but asked for a 737 type rating; whether that posting is still open is among the points we could not confirm.
Does Pegasus Airlines hire foreign pilots? The postings we recorded name a Turkish work permit, with Turkish nationals prioritized. A press release on Pegasus’ site, “Pegasus opens doors to expats”, last modified on 10 June 2022, points citizens of other countries to its English careers page; whether expatriates are eligible now is among the points we could not confirm, so ask Pegasus before you apply.
What license and English level does Pegasus ask for? An ATPL, or a CPL with the ATPL theory passed, Turkish or EASA, with a Class 1 medical and ICAO English Level 4, as the relayed postings gave them on 30 October 2026.
What is the Pegasus pilot selection process? As job boards and search results relayed it: the application, a board interview with HR and two Captains, the MMPI personality inventory and a medical for fitness to fly. The steps we recorded include no simulator assessment. For the Pilot Training Program, the 2024 posting named a document check, the Skytest psychometric test, personality inventories, board interviews and the medical.
Prepare for the assessment, not just the application
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