Riyadh Air Pilot Interview Prep: Stages, Sim, Questions (2026 Guide)

Last updated: 17 October 2026

Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia’s new flag carrier, began scheduled services on 10 June 2026 with the 787-9, and it recruits for both seats. The First Officer posting on its own pilot portal, as search engines show it, asks for 2,000 hours on multi-crew, multi-engine jets, counting only time in an operating seat, a valid ICAO ATPL, an unrestricted Class 1 and ICAO English Level 4 or above, though some job boards’ copies say Level 5. Riyadh Air publishes no selection stages, but candidates have described them on a pilots’ forum since 2025: a short first screening, online psychometric tests, a technical panel interview and a simulator check on the 787. This guide sets out what the postings ask for, then prepares you for each of those parts.

Note for A320-family pilots: Riyadh Air’s first A321neo is due before the end of 2026, and job boards relayed an A321 First Officer posting from September 2026 that asks for 1,500 hours on multi-crew, multi-engine jets, with 150 hours flown in the last 12 months. We could not read it on the portal itself, so confirm it there before you apply.

At the last check, on 17 October 2026, Riyadh Air’s 787 First Officer posting was on its pilot portal in search results, and job boards relayed A321 First Officer and A321 Captain postings from September 2026; we could not read the portal’s job list, which loads by script, to confirm which are open. After an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the airline’s base, Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority suspended operations there on 10 October 2026 and extended the suspension on 12 and 14 October, and Riyadh Air canceled flights and moved aircraft away from the city (Qatar News Agency, CAPA, AGBI, Khaleej Times and AeroCorner, October 2026); no reopening had been confirmed when we checked, on 17 October. Check the airline’s own announcements before you travel to an assessment, and the airline pilot jobs board for the current position.

About Riyadh Air

Riyadh Air is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and is the country’s second flag carrier, beside Saudia. From October 2025 it flew a leased 787 between Riyadh and London for staff and invited guests only; Boeing announced the delivery of its first two 787-9s on 5 June 2026, and scheduled services began on 10 June, Riyadh to London Heathrow (CAPA, June 2026). On 20 July 2026, Boeing said Riyadh Air was flying six 787-9s. The postings are based in Riyadh, and Riyadh Air sponsors the Saudi residence visa.

More types are coming: the A321neo, the first due before the end of 2026 (Aviation A2Z, September 2026); the A350-1000, with 31 on firm order (Airbus, 20 July 2026); and more 787s, including the larger 787-10 (Boeing, 20 July 2026). For now the 787-9 is the whole fleet, and a 787 interview leans on what sets the type apart: almost no bleed air, a large electrical system and fly-by-wire with a control column.

The airline is new, and it is attracting a great many applicants: AGBI reported in May 2026 that Riyadh Air had received more than two million job applications across all roles. Saudi nationals have a route of their own, the First Officer Scholarship Program announced in February 2026: a bachelor’s degree at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the US, with employment guaranteed (Riyadh Air).

What the postings ask for

Job boards’ copies of the Captain posting set an age limit of under 59; we did not see one in the First Officer postings. On English, Riyadh Air’s own 787 First Officer posting, as search engines show it, and copies of the A321 First Officer posting ask for ICAO Level 4 or above, while copies of the Captain posting, earlier First Officer postings and several job boards ask for Level 5. We could not confirm which level applies to every route, so check the posting you apply to, and expect your English to be judged in every stage, whatever your license records.

The hours are counted by aircraft and by seat, not in total. Only time in an operating seat of a multi-crew, multi-engine jet counts toward the First Officer minimums: simulator, Flight Engineer and Second Officer time do not, and neither do turboprop or single-pilot hours, however many you have. Total your logbook that way before you apply, and show it that way in your application (the Library’s guide to the pilot CV and application covers the flight hours table). The A321 posting and the Captain copies also ask for 150 hours in the last 12 months, which rules out a pilot who has been off the line for most of a year, whatever the total.

What sets Riyadh Air apart for a pilot

• A start-up. Scheduled flights began in June 2026, and the network, the fleet and the pilot group are all still growing. Be ready to show how you would help an airline grow, not only how you follow its procedures.
• Jet time in an operating seat. The First Officer minimums count only multi-crew, multi-engine jet time in an operating seat.
• Recent flying. 150 hours in the last 12 months in the A321 posting and the Captain copies.
• No type rating on the mandatory list. The 787 First Officer posting, as search engines show it, names none among its mandatory requirements, though job boards’ copies differ, and the Captain copies say type rating training is provided.
• One base, with the visa sponsored. The postings are based in Riyadh, and the airline sponsors the Saudi residence visa.
• A second fleet arriving. A321 postings appeared in September 2026, ahead of the first A321neo’s delivery.
• A route for Saudi nationals. The First Officer Scholarship Program, through a US university degree.

The selection stages

Riyadh Air publishes no selection stages for pilots. The table below separates what its postings say from what candidates have reported on PPRuNe, a pilots’ forum, in threads begun in July and August 2025. Treat the reported stages as a guide to the shape, not a promise: the reports differ on the order, and candidates from late August 2025 on describe a short recorded assessment where earlier ones had a first video interview.

The recorded assessment

Candidates who sat it from late August 2025 on describe three parts in about 15 minutes, each on its own timer, recorded with an automated system rather than a person: questions on why you applied and what you would bring to the airline, a handful of ATPL questions, which one candidate found broad but mostly on performance, powerplant and meteorology, and a spoken English answer. Reported examples include what an altimeter reads when you land in hot weather and how a jet stream appears on a chart. Prepare short, structured answers you can give to a camera, and refresh the theory in the technical section below.

The psychometric tests

A candidate who sat them in July 2025 described about two hours of online tests, which posts in the same threads describe as a personality questionnaire, a crew resource management questionnaire that asks what you would do in a given situation, and a psychometric test run twice, identically, to see how fast you learn. Airline test batteries typically combine timed numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning with spatial orientation, memory and multitasking tasks, usually with a personality questionnaire (the Library covers pilot aptitude tests). Practice the skills in short daily sessions over a few weeks. A questionnaire has no right answers to learn; answer it quickly, honestly and consistently, because similar questions come back.

The simulator check

Riyadh Air publishes no simulator profile, device or duration. Candidates in 2025 described the check on the 787, in London Heathrow or Dubai; Riyadh Air also has its own 787-9 full flight simulator, licensed by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation in January 2025 (Riyadh Air), so your invitation will tell you where. Prepare for the check most airlines run: in the Library’s description of the airline simulator assessment, 30 to 60 minutes in a full flight simulator or a fixed-base device, flown as one of a two-pilot crew, with a takeoff, upper air work such as steep turns, a hold, an ILS to minimums with a missed approach and sometimes an engine failure.

What to practice

• The briefing. Ask for the pitch attitudes and thrust settings for each phase, write them down and fly them. Anything unclear is better asked in the briefing than discovered in the simulator.
• Raw data. Some assessments are flown with the autopilot, the flight director and often the autothrust off. Practice level-offs, steep turns and hand-flown ILS approaches with a radial scan centered on the attitude indicator (see instrument scan technique).
• A control column, and soft protection. The 787 is fly-by-wire but keeps a control wheel and column, and its envelope protection is soft: control forces rise as a limit nears, but a pilot who pushes or pulls hard enough can override them. Its pitch law brings back speed stability, so a pilot coming from an Airbus should expect to trim again (see fly-by-wire and the 787 flight controls).
• Both roles. Where the check is flown as a crew, the pilot monitoring is assessed too: standard callouts, checklists and, above all, calling deviations (see crew coordination, briefings and callouts).
• The engine failure after V1. Directional control with rudder, rotation at VR and not before, positive climb and gear up, then identification and confirmation with the other pilot before anything is shut down (see engine failure and engine fire). On the 787, thrust asymmetry compensation is part of the flight control law, with no switch, and counters the yaw after an engine failure; know what it does before you meet it.
• Your own procedures. A type-rated candidate should expect standard operating procedures to be judged as well as handling, so fly the device as you fly the line: flows, checklists and callouts as briefed.

Errors are expected. What is assessed is whether they are noticed, said aloud and corrected; flying accurately in silence leaves the communication and teamwork side of the check without evidence.

The interview

Many airlines now use competency-based interviews, in which each question asks for a real past event rather than an opinion: a mistake you made, a disagreement with a Captain, a time you saw something unsafe, a decision on incomplete information. Answer with the STAR structure (situation, task, action, result), keep each story short and true, and show ownership rather than blame. Prepare eight to ten stories that between them cover the common themes, and if something in your record could come up, such as a failed check, raise it yourself: an interviewer who finds it later will assume it was hidden. The Library explains the method in competency-based pilot interviews.

Candidates who reached the technical panel in August 2025 described it as part behavioral, on past flights, and part technical, on the aircraft they fly now, so prepare both for the same sitting.

Questions particular to Riyadh Air

• Why Riyadh Air? Three specific reasons that are true for both sides, such as joining an airline as it is built, the 787 or the network ahead. Not led by pay, and never a criticism of your present employer.
• Why Riyadh? Moving to Riyadh was on the first interview’s list in candidates’ 2025 reports. Have a realistic plan for yourself and your family, and know what living there involves before you are asked.
• What would you bring to a start-up? Real examples of a procedure you improved, a colleague you trained or something you helped set up from nothing.
• Your type, and the next one. Expect questions on the type you fly now. If you are not rated on the 787, or on the A321 for that posting, show why you would learn it quickly.
• Your English. Your answers are the test, in the recorded assessment and in the interview alike.
• For Captain applicants. Expect the command side: decisions you have made, how you lead a crew and how you handle a disagreement on the flight deck (the Library covers flight deck leadership and the command upgrade).

Prepare two or three questions of your own about training, support for new pilots or the operation, not about leave or pay.

Technical questions

A technical interview generally covers three things: the type you fly or will fly, ATPL theory asked as open questions, and operational scenarios you talk through, such as a pressurization failure in the cruise. The bar is explaining why a system works the way it does, not reciting what it does. If you do not know, say so, then explain what you do know and where you would look it up: panels generally score honesty first, then reasoning, then raw knowledge.

787 questions to practice

1. The 787 takes almost no bleed air: what pressurizes the cabin, protects the wing against ice and starts the engines instead? (see the 787 no-bleed architecture)
2. Why does the 787 generate 235 V AC, and what is ±270 V DC used for? (see the 787 electrical system)
3. Airbus and Boeing both fly by wire: what is the difference between hard and soft envelope protection, and which protections does the 787 give? (see fly-by-wire and the 787 flight controls)

A321 questions, for the A321 posting

1. Normal, alternate and direct law: what takes you from one to the next, and which protections do you lose at each step? (see A320 flight control laws and protections)
2. The A321neo shares one type rating with the rest of the A320 family: what changes for the crew between the ceo and the neo? (see the A320ceo to neo course and its module on the A321neo)

ATPL topics worth refreshing

1. What does your altimeter read when you land in air much warmer than standard, and why? (see the pressure altimeter)
2. How is a jet stream shown on a significant weather chart? (see jet streams)
3. Extended diversion time operations for twin-engined airplanes: the threshold time, the entry point and critical fuel (see ETOPS)
4. V1, VR and V2, and what V1 commits you to (see takeoff speeds)
5. Decode a METAR and TAF (drill it with our ATPL meteorology questions)

What v1prep has for Riyadh Air’s fleet

Where Riyadh Air candidates go wrong

1. Counting total time. Only operating-seat time on multi-crew, multi-engine jets counts toward the 2,000 hours, or the 1,500 of the A321 posting: turboprop, single-pilot, simulator, Flight Engineer and Second Officer time do not.
2. Falling short on recent flying. The A321 posting and the Captain copies ask for 150 hours in the last 12 months.
3. Treating the first screening as a formality. In reports since late August 2025 it is recorded, timed and the first thing you sit, and your English is judged on it.
4. Arriving cold at the psychometric tests. They come before the panel, so a weak result can end the application before anyone has met you.
5. Leaning on the automatics. If the 787 check is flown on raw data, a pilot who has not hand-flown an approach without a flight director for years will show it.
6. No answer to “why Riyadh?” A move to a new airline in a new country needs a plan you can explain.
7. Stories and records that do not match. Competency answers that do not survive a follow-up question, or figures that differ from your logbook. Across the industry, the commonest reason an offer is withdrawn is a gap between what a candidate declared and what the records show.
8. Answering a request for money. Riyadh Air’s pilot portal warns that the airline engages with applicants only through its official channels and never asks for payments or bank details during the application process (read on 17 October 2026).

From application to a course date

We found no published timings for Riyadh Air’s selection. What is known:

Plan for a range, not a date. While you wait, keep your recent flying up, since the A321 posting asks for 150 hours in the last 12 months, and keep your theory sharp.

Riyadh Air pilot recruitment: common questions

The hours, license, English and visa rules are on our Riyadh Air pilot requirements page; the questions below are about the selection itself.

What is the Riyadh Air pilot selection process?

Riyadh Air publishes no selection stages. Candidates posting on PPRuNe, a pilots’ forum, have described a first screening, a short video interview in mid-2025 and, from late August 2025, a recorded online assessment, then about two hours of online psychometric tests, a technical panel interview and a simulator check on the 787, followed by the medical, an unrestricted Class 1. Treat that as the likely shape, not a promise: the reports differ on the order.

What is the Riyadh Air simulator check like?

Riyadh Air publishes no profile. Candidates in 2025 described it on the 787, in London Heathrow or Dubai. Prepare for the usual 30 to 60 minutes as one of a two-pilot crew: a takeoff, upper air work such as steep turns, a hold, an ILS to minimums with a missed approach and sometimes an engine failure, with raw-data flying and standard callouts in both roles. The 787 keeps a control column and soft envelope protection, so a pilot coming from an Airbus should expect to trim and to feel speed stability again.

What does the Riyadh Air online assessment involve?

Candidates who sat it from late August 2025 on described three timed parts in about 15 minutes, recorded with an automated system rather than a person: questions on why you applied and what you would bring, a few ATPL questions, mostly on performance, powerplant and meteorology in one account, and a spoken English answer. A candidate in July 2025 described about two hours of online psychometric tests, which others describe as a personality questionnaire, a crew resource management questionnaire and a psychometric test run twice to see how fast you learn.

What technical questions should I prepare for Riyadh Air?

The 787 first: why it takes almost no bleed air, what its electrical system does instead, and the difference between Boeing’s soft and Airbus’s hard envelope protection. For the A321 posting, the A320 family’s flight control laws. Then ATPL theory: candidates since late 2025 have reported questions on what an altimeter reads in hot weather and how a jet stream appears on a chart, and extended diversion time operations, V1, VR and V2, and METAR and TAF are worth refreshing.

Does Riyadh Air recruit Captains from outside?

Yes. Job boards’ copies of its 787 Captain posting ask for 6,000 hours on multi-crew, multi-engine aircraft, including 2,000 hours of recent wide-body command, 150 hours in command in the last 12 months, ICAO English Level 5 and an age under 59, and say a type rating is not required, with type rating training provided. A Direct Entry Captain A321 posting was relayed in September 2026. We could not read either on Riyadh Air’s portal itself.