Pilot Jobs in Australia and New Zealand 2026: Qantas Group, Air New Zealand, Virgin Australia and Jetstar

Our jobs board tracks 3 airlines based in Australia and 1 in New Zealand, Qantas Group (Qantas & QantasLink), Air New Zealand, Virgin Australia and Jetstar. At the last check 1 of them had the First Officer seat open and 1 the Captain seat, and the status of Virgin Australia was unconfirmed. Every one publishes a First Officer entry from 500 hours for pilots without a type rating, though each counts those hours differently. None of the 4 says it sponsors a visa for its First Officers; Air New Zealand, Virgin Australia and Jetstar ask for a citizenship, a residence or a right to work you already hold, and Qantas Group’s record gives no single rule. This page lists each one with its bases, seats, license and minimum, then what the 500 hours count, the license, the instrument approach endorsements and the English level the postings name, the flows and cadet routes, and the traps in a vacancy on either side of the Tasman: hours in command that exclude supervised time, the right to work, security checks and postings that close. How to get the license itself is on the how to become an airline pilot in Australia page.

The airlines in Australia and New Zealand (4)

Every Australian and New Zealand airline on our board, by its status at the last check: 1 recruiting for at least one seat. The license and right-to-work columns are each record’s own summary; the hours are the published minimums, in the airline’s own measure.

Who is hiring, seat by seat

First Officer seat open at the last check: Air New Zealand. Captain seat open: Qantas Group (Qantas & QantasLink). Each airline as its record sums it up, with the date of the check:

• Qantas Group (Qantas & QantasLink) F/O: Not recruiting Capt: Recruiting
  At the last check, on 23 October 2026, QantasLink’s careers page said it was not accepting applications for pilot positions, while still publishing its 500-hour Direct Entry First Officer minimums, and the Group’s careers site listed Network Aviation E190 Training and Checking Captain vacancies in Perth; the Network Aviation First Officer listing that job boards copied in June and July 2026 was no longer on the site. Network Aviation and National Jet Systems publish First Officer minimums of their own; mainline Qantas fills its seats mostly from the Group’s own airlines and the Qantas Group Pilot Academy, and a search-engine copy of its careers page, seen on 5 October 2026, said it was not accepting pilot applications. (checked 23 October 2026) — careers page
• Air New Zealand F/O: Talent pool Capt: Not offered
  At the last check, on 17 October 2026, Air New Zealand’s careers site listed two pilot expressions of interest: First Officer, Turboprop Fleet, from 500 hours, which said Air New Zealand already had a strong pool of applicants and that the process can take some time, and Jet Fleet Pilot, whose vacancies are filled mostly by internal transfer from the turboprop fleets. The Mangōpare cadetship site said applications were closed and that Air New Zealand was developing another cadetship, with details still to be confirmed. (checked 17 October 2026) — careers page
• Virgin Australia F/O: Unconfirmed Capt: Unconfirmed
  At the last check, on 20 October 2026, Virgin Australia’s pilot jobs page still said it was now hiring commercial pilots for a range of ports in Australia and was actively recruiting and processing applications quickly, for First Officers on the B737, but its Apply now button opened a “First Officer – Boeing 737” application that Virgin Australia’s application system said had closed on 1 August 2024, and none of the 41 jobs on its careers site was a pilot role; the B737 and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines E190-E2 pilot listings seen in search results returned “not found”. Watch the careers site for a new listing. (checked 20 October 2026) — careers page
• Jetstar F/O: Not recruiting Capt: Not offered
  At the last check, on 22 October 2026, Jetstar’s page on the Qantas Group careers site said that Jetstar is not accepting applications for pilot positions, while still publishing the Direct Entry First Officer A320/1 minimums. The last Jetstar First Officer listing we could date was for non-type-rated A320 First Officers in Auckland, in February to April 2025, now closed. Jetstar Asia ceased operations in July 2025, and Jetstar Japan recruits separately. (checked 22 October 2026) — careers page

For Captains: the Qantas Group’s open Captain seat was Network Aviation’s E190 Training and Checking Captain vacancies in Perth, permanent and two-year fixed-term, the fixed-term ones with sponsorship and relocation, while Qantas and QantasLink offer no direct entry line Captain route; the requirements of those vacancies are among the points we could not confirm (checked 23 October 2026); Jetstar offers no direct entry Captain route (checked 22 October 2026); Virgin Australia offers no direct entry Captain route on its 737 pilot jobs page (checked 20 October 2026); Air New Zealand offers no direct entry Captain route (checked 17 October 2026). Every airline that takes Captains from outside is on the direct entry Captain jobs page.

What the 500 hours count

Each airline’s lowest published First Officer entry for a pilot without a type rating, in the airline’s own measure of hours:

1. 500 hours at Qantas Group (Qantas & QantasLink), counted by QantasLink as flight time in an airplane, with 50 flown in the last 12 months preferred; National Jet Systems’ A220 First Officers add 200 hours in command of multi-engine or turbine airplanes, PICUS excluded, or 200 on multi-crew aircraft, and Network Aviation asks for fixed-wing time with an MCC course or multi-crew experience (checked 23 October 2026)
2. 500 hours at Air New Zealand, for its turboprop First Officers, with 25 at night and 40 of instrument time; its jet fleet takes outside pilots from 1,500 hours, 100 of them multi-engine (checked 17 October 2026)
3. 500 hours at Virgin Australia, with one of 300 in command of a powered fixed-wing aircraft, 200 of them on a multi-engine one, 300 in command of a turbine airplane, or all 500 on aircraft certified for two pilots, ICUS excluded (checked 20 October 2026)
4. 500 hours at Jetstar, in fixed-wing aircraft, with one of 200 hours in command of a multi-engine aircraft, PICUS excluded, 200 in command of a turbine airplane or 200 on aircraft certified for two pilots (checked 22 October 2026)

Read the qualifier, not the headline. The same 500 hours mean different logbooks: time in command, on a turbine or multi-engine airplane, or on an aircraft certified for two pilots, and command time flown under supervision (PICUS or ICUS) is left out where the posting says so. Older Jetstar documents gave 1,500 hours for the A320 First Officer, and which figure applies when Jetstar reopens is among the points we could not confirm (checked 22 October 2026); Qantas mainline’s own Direct Entry Second Officers, for Australian citizens or permanent residents, need one of five combinations of command time, the lowest 300 hours in command of multi-engine airplanes or 500 in command of fixed-wing ones, ICUS excluded, and a search-engine copy of its careers page said it was not taking applications on 5 October 2026 (checked 23 October 2026). The doors at 500 hours or less, here and beyond, are on the low-hour pilot jobs page, and every published minimum on the hours requirements page.

License, endorsements and English

Each side of the Tasman flies on its own license: QantasLink asks for a CASA ATPL, or a CASA CPL with passes in all the Australian ATPL theory subjects, and an Australian multi-engine instrument rating with the 2D and 3D instrument approach endorsements (checked 23 October 2026); Jetstar an Australian ATPL, or a CPL with all the Australian ATPL theory, the same 2D and 3D endorsements and multi-crew experience or a completed MCC course (checked 22 October 2026); Virgin Australia an Australian ATPL, or a CPL with all the Australian ATPL theory, an instrument rating with the multi-engine (MEA), 2D and 3D endorsements and an MCC certificate (checked 20 October 2026); Air New Zealand asks its turboprop First Officers for an NZCAA CPL or ATPL with an NZCAA multi-engine instrument rating, and the NZCAA Basic Turbine Knowledge exam (checked 17 October 2026). At Qantas Group, Virgin Australia and Jetstar, a CPL with all the Australian ATPL theory passed is enough to apply; the ATPL itself comes with the hours. What each exam and rating takes is on the Australia country page, and the instrument approach procedures article explains the two-dimensional and three-dimensional approaches the 2D and 3D endorsements cover.

Across the Tasman. QantasLink wants New Zealand applicants to convert their license and ratings to Australian ones before they apply (checked 23 October 2026); Jetstar says a current New Zealand ATPL or CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating can be converted under the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act before employment (checked 22 October 2026); Air New Zealand’s careers page also takes a current CASA instrument rating for turboprop entry, and converts a foreign license through Aspeq’s initial assessment, whose letter you send before you are invited to interview (checked 17 October 2026). In the other direction, the New Zealand CAA’s guidance under the same Act says it issues an equivalent Part 61 license within 28 days of a complete application once CASA has confirmed the Australian license, which must be current, with a flight review and a Class 1, and endorsed for English at ICAO Level 4 at least; an ATPL’s currency must be on multi-crew IFR operations, and New Zealand’s medical standards, for color vision among them, are not all the same as CASA’s (CAA guidance on the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act, read 23 October 2026).

English Level 6. All 4 airlines here ask for ICAO English language proficiency at Level 6, the expert level at the top of the ICAO scale; the licensing minimum is Level 4. A pilot with Level 4 or 5 on the license has to be assessed at Level 6 before applying; the Australia country page sets out CASA’s English levels.

Flows, academies and cadet routes

The mainline seats are filled largely from below: Qantas mainline fills its seats largely through the flow from QantasLink and Network Aviation and from the Qantas Group Pilot Academy, and whether it takes outside applications in late 2026 is among the points we could not confirm (checked 23 October 2026); Air New Zealand fills its jet seats mostly by transfer from its turboprops under its Regional Pilot Priority Process, taking outside pilots from 1,500 hours with 12 months of multi-crew command or jet time for up to 10% of new jet pilots in normal circumstances; pilots who flew its turboprops in the last eight years cannot apply from outside, and every new jet pilot starts at the bottom of a jet seniority list separate from the turboprop one (checked 17 October 2026).

The academy and cadet routes the records name, worded as recorded:

• Qantas Group (Qantas & QantasLink) Intake: Not stated
  Qantas Group Pilot Academy (Toowoomba, run by Flight Training Adelaide): ab-initio, 55 weeks to the CPL, ME IR, ATPL theory and MCC; graduates are invited to a Group assessment center, with no job guaranteed (checked 23 October 2026)
• Air New Zealand Intake: Closed at last check
  Mangōpare Air New Zealand Pilot Cadetship — ab initio for New Zealand citizens, about 14 months to an ATR 72-600 type rating, mostly funded by Air New Zealand; first intake of 30 from September 2024; applications closed at the last check, another cadetship being developed (cadetship site, read 17 October 2026) (checked 17 October 2026)
• Virgin Australia Intake: No intake found at last check
  Virgin Australia Pilot Cadetship — no current intake found in search results on 19 October 2026; whether it still runs is unconfirmed (checked 20 October 2026)
• Jetstar Intake: No intake found at last check
  Jetstar Cadet Pilot Program (a CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating, then an A320 or B787 type endorsement) — no 2026 intake found at last check (checked 22 October 2026)

The Qantas Group Pilot Academy is a school, not a cadetship: it guarantees no job and funds no cadetship with a Group airline, and its graduates are invited to an assessment center for QantasLink, Jetstar or Network Aviation, for which Australian citizenship or permanent residence is mandatory (checked 23 October 2026); Air New Zealand’s Mangōpare cadetship, for New Zealand citizens, had closed its applications, with another cadetship being developed (checked 17 October 2026); whether the Virgin Australia Pilot Cadetship still runs is among the points we could not confirm (checked 20 October 2026); whether the Jetstar Cadet Pilot Program will run another intake is among the points we could not confirm (checked 22 October 2026). Who pays, and what each scheme leads to, is compared on the cadet programs page.

How to read an Australian or New Zealand pilot vacancy

• The right to work is yours to bring. None of the 4 airlines here says it sponsors a visa for its First Officers, so a pilot who needs one does not meet their published conditions. QantasLink asks for Australian citizenship or the right to work in Australia or New Zealand without restriction or sponsorship (checked 23 October 2026); Jetstar asks for Australian permanent residence, or eligibility for it, or an unrestricted right to work in Australia, and its undated FAQ says it does not sponsor First Officers (checked 22 October 2026); Virgin Australia asks for Australian or New Zealand citizenship or Australian permanent residence when you apply (checked 20 October 2026); Air New Zealand asks for New Zealand citizenship, permanent residence or residence, or Australian citizenship, and the ability to travel overseas (checked 17 October 2026). The exception at the last check was Network Aviation’s fixed-term E190 Training and Checking Captain vacancies, with sponsorship and relocation (checked 23 October 2026). The airlines that do sponsor are on the visa sponsorship page.
• Security checks and passports. QantasLink asks that you can hold an Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC), pass drug and alcohol tests and hold a passport valid for at least 12 months with unrestricted access to every destination Qantas flies to (checked 23 October 2026); Jetstar asks the same of the ASIC, the drug and alcohol test and a passport with unrestricted access to all its ports of call (checked 22 October 2026); Air New Zealand vets its pilots through the Police and Aviation Security (checked 17 October 2026). A conviction, or a passport barred from a destination, can stop an application that meets every flying requirement.
• The type rating and the bond. All 4 publish a First Officer entry that needs no type rating to apply: Virgin Australia says paid employment starts on the first day of training (checked 20 October 2026); Air New Zealand starts the type rating right after the introduction phase, with about three months of type rating and line training (checked 17 October 2026); whether the Qantas Group bonds the type rating on any of its direct-entry routes is among the points we could not confirm (checked 23 October 2026); Jetstar’s undated FAQ says its Australian-based pilots are not bonded and its New Zealand-based pilots are bonded for three years, terms we could not confirm are current (checked 22 October 2026); who pays for Virgin Australia’s 737 rating, and whether it is bonded, are among the points we could not confirm (checked 20 October 2026); Air New Zealand publishes no pay or bond terms for direct-entry pilots (checked 17 October 2026). Ask who pays for the rating and whether it is bonded before you sign. The airlines that train you on type worldwide are on the non-type-rated First Officer jobs page.
• Postings open and close. At the last checks: QantasLink’s careers page said it was not accepting applications for pilot positions (checked 23 October 2026); Jetstar’s page on the Qantas Group careers site said Jetstar was not accepting applications for pilot positions (checked 22 October 2026); Virgin Australia’s pilot jobs page still said it was recruiting, but its Apply now button opened a 737 First Officer application closed since 1 August 2024, and its careers site listed no pilot role (checked 20 October 2026); a Virgin Australia candidate not shortlisted, or not progressed after the assessment center, waits 12 months to reapply (checked 20 October 2026); Air New Zealand’s turboprop expression of interest says it already has a strong pool of applicants (checked 17 October 2026). A published minimum is not an open vacancy: apply on the airline’s own careers site, and watch it for a new listing.
• The selection. The Qantas Group runs online aptitude tests, then an assessment center with an interview and a simulator test (checked 23 October 2026); Virgin Australia runs a video interview, then an assessment center in Brisbane with a simulator assessment (checked 20 October 2026); Air New Zealand holds a two-day recruitment event in Auckland with a simulator assessment, an interview, written assessments and a group exercise (checked 17 October 2026); Jetstar’s stages are among the points we could not confirm (checked 22 October 2026).

The other airlines of the region, from Singapore to Japan, are on the Asia-Pacific jobs page.

For the selection, the interview guide for Qantas Group, the complete interview guide, and the Library’s airline pilot recruitment and selection and airline simulator assessment articles.

Common questions

Which airlines in Australia and New Zealand are hiring pilots? At the last check the First Officer seat was open at Air New Zealand and the Captain seat at Qantas Group; the status of Virgin Australia was unconfirmed. The tables on this page give the date each airline was checked. Confirm the vacancy on the airline’s own careers site before applying.

How many hours do I need to fly for an airline in Australia or New Zealand? Each airline’s published minimums, in its own measure: Qantas Group: 500 h (QantasLink FO) (checked 23 October 2026); Air New Zealand: 500 h (turboprop FO) · 1,500 h (jet) (checked 17 October 2026); Virgin Australia: 500 h (checked 20 October 2026); Jetstar: 500 h (checked 22 October 2026). Most also ask for time in command, on turbine or multi-engine airplanes or on multi-crew aircraft, and leave supervised command time out, so read the posting’s categories before you total your logbook.

Do Australian and New Zealand airlines sponsor visas for pilots? Not for First Officers on our board: none of the 4 airlines here says it does; QantasLink asks for Australian citizenship or the right to work in Australia or New Zealand without restriction or sponsorship; Jetstar asks for Australian permanent residence, or eligibility for it, or an unrestricted right to work in Australia, and its undated FAQ says it does not sponsor First Officers; Virgin Australia asks for Australian or New Zealand citizenship or Australian permanent residence when you apply; Air New Zealand asks for New Zealand citizenship, permanent residence or residence, or Australian citizenship, and the ability to travel overseas; for Qantas Group there is no single rule.

Can a New Zealand pilot fly for an Australian airline? QantasLink wants New Zealand applicants to convert their license and ratings to Australian ones before they apply; Jetstar says a current New Zealand ATPL or CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating can be converted under the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act before employment; Air New Zealand’s careers page also takes a current CASA instrument rating for turboprop entry, and converts a foreign license through Aspeq’s initial assessment, whose letter you send before you are invited to interview. The right to work comes from citizenship or residence, not from the license.

Do Australian and New Zealand airlines require English Level 6? Yes: all 4 airlines here ask for ICAO English language proficiency at Level 6, the expert level, though the licensing minimum is Level 4.